The 25th ranked Alabama Crimson Tide took two out of three games against the number one ranked Arkansas Razorbacks. Let's go over how Alabama was able to take down the number one team in the country.
Game One
In game one, Hagen Smith was able to lead Arkansas to a 5-3 victory. He threw six scoreless innings and struck out six batters. Ben McLaughlin and Jared Sprague-Lott both hit home runs for the Razorbacks.
Ben Hess started for Alabama and allowed five earned runs in five innings. Ian Petrutz and Justin Lebron both had run scoring singles for the Crimson Tide.
Game Two
In game two, Alabama beat Arkansas with a final score of 4-3. Greg Farone threw five solid innings by only allowing one run. Gage Miller and Will Hodo each hit home runs in the win.
Mason Molina got the start for Arkansas and threw six solid innings. All of the Razorback runs were scored off of solo home runs from Peyton Stovall, Jared Sprague-Lott, and Peyton Holt.
Game Three
In the rubber match, Alabama shut out Arkansas with a final score of 5-0. Zane Adams dominated the Razorbacks with eight scoreless innings. Bryce Eblin homered and Ian Petrutz had a run scoring single in the win.
Brady Tygart got the start for Arkansas and threw five solid innings of just one run ball. Jared Sprague-Lott and Ben McLaughlin were the only Razorbacks to get hits by getting two each.
Takeaways for Alabama
The Alabama pitching staff proved this weekend that they are very good. If they keep it up, this team could be very dangerous in the SEC Tournament.
Zane Adams threw eight scoreless innings with five strikeouts and allowed just four hits and one walk. This made his record on the season go to 3-2 with a 3.71 earned run average in 34 innings pitched and has struck out 25 batters.
Ben Hess continued to struggle, but he is still the Friday night starter for the Crimson Tide because he has great pitches. If he can pitch like he did last year, this Alabama pitching staff will be impossible to beat.
Gage Miller continues to lead the offense for Alabama. Through 36 games played, Miller has a .413 batting average with 15 home runs and 44 runs batted in. He also has an OPS of 1.321, which includes an on-base percentage of .503 and a slugging percentage of .818.
Alabama improved their record on the season to 24-12, with a 6-9 conference record. They could easily get hot and be sleeper team in the SEC Tournament.