The 11th ranked Alabama Crimson Tide began their week with a non conference victory over the Samford Bulldogs. This game came down to the wire, but Alabama was able to come away with the win.
Kade Snell got the start for the Crimson Tide and had a solid start. In four innings of work, Snell struck out three batters and allowed four hits, one walk, and zero earned runs. This got him the win, making him 1-0 on the season.
Jacob Newman got the start for the Bulldogs and struggled early. In 1.1 innings pitched, Newman struck out no batters and allowed three hits, three walks, and three earned runs. This got him the loss, making his record 2-1.
Lot's of runs were scored today for both teams. Alabama got on the board in the first inning with a two run homer by Ian Petrutz. They managed to get another run in the second on a wild pitch.
In the fifth inning, Will Hodo gave Alabama a five run lead with a two run single. In the bottom half of the fifth, Samford began to battle back, scoring three runs from singles by John Anderson, Josh Rodriguez, and Andrew Bennett. This made it a 5-3 ballgame.
In the sixth inning, Gage Miller hit a two run homer and TJ McCants hit back to back homeruns. Kade Snell also had a run scoring single to make the score 9-3.
Samford responded with two runs in the bottom of the sixth after Garrett Howe hit a run scoring double and John Anderson hit a run scoring single.
Alabama scored two more runs in the eighth and ninth innings with a run scoring balk and a solo home run from Gage Miller, his second on the day.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Bulldogs started to rally back. Cullun Horowicz got it started with a three run homer and Garrett Staton followed with a run scoring double. Garrett Howe hit a run scoring single to make it a one run game, but Tyler Fay got the final out after the single to earn the save.
With the win, Alabama improved their record to 22-7. With the loss, Samford dropped to 18-10.