The 12th ranked Crimson Tide baseball team improved to 23-3 with a victory over UNA on Tuesday night. The game was played at the Huntsville Trash Panda’s Toyota Field. Bama won the game 4-3 on a walk off single in the bottom of the ninth by superstar Justin LeBron. The game was played in front of a crowd of over 5,900.
The Tide started senior Georgia Tech transfer Aeden Finateri on the mound, his second start of the season. The Lions countered with right hander Luke Davenport. Finateri allowed a two out single in the first, but notched two strikeouts and a fly out to keep UNA off the board. Bama unveiled a new batting order with DH Coleman Mizell moved to leadoff, Kade Snell sliding up to third, and Garrett Staton returning from injury that occurred in the fourth game of the season. The red hot Snell rifled a two out single in the first but the Tide could not manage anything else.
Finateri worked a quick perfect second inning with another strikeout before calling it a night after 29 pitches. The Tide could only get a walk to Staton in the second off of Davenport. Coulson Buchanan took over from Finateri in the third and worked the next two innings, allowing only one harmless single and striking out five batters.
Bama finally got something going in the bottom of the fourth. Snell led off with a double, Will Hodo walked with one out, then Staton blasted a double off the center field wall to score them both. Staton was stranded at third but the Tide led 2-0.
Tyler Fay entered in the fifth to pitch for the Tide and tossed a scoreless frame with one hit and one strikeout. Bama went out in order in the bottom half. Fay was back out for the sixth inning and after walking lead off man Ryker Billingsley, retired the next two batters. However cleanup hitter Nash Rippen mashed a ball over the centerfield fence to tie the game. Braylon Myers relieved Fay and after walking the first man he faced, struck out pinch hitter Ryan West to end the inning. In the top of the seventh Myers struck out the side on 11 pitches.
Alabama retook the lead in the bottom of the seventh. Richie Bonomolo, Jr walked with two outs and promptly stole second base. Mizell lined a ball to the left side that Lion first baseman Petey Craska dove for and deflected toward second baseman Jonathan Lane. Mizell beat the ball out for a single, but Lane threw it away allowing Bonomolo to come home to give the Tide a 3-2 lead.
Myers returned for the eighth and after giving up a lead off double to Matthew Delgado, was replaced by freshman Jack Ketchum. Ketchum hit Craska with the first pitch he threw before recording an out on a ground ball to first base. Both runners advanced on the play. Tide closer Carson Ozmer was then brought in and got Lane to fly out to centerfield, with Delgado scoring on the sacrifice fly. Lefty swinging Wes Walker was intentionally walked so Ozmer could face right hander West, who he promptly struck out on four pitches.
Hodo hit a long drive to left field to lead off the bottom of the eighth, but it was hauled in just short of the fence. Two more fly balls ended the inning with only nine pitches being thrown. Ozmer was back out in the top of the ninth and walked the lead off hitter, Bryant Loving. When Leighton Jenkins tried to put down a sacrifice bunt, he popped it up and it was hauled in by Hodo at first base. Billingsley then rapped into a double play on a ball hit to Staton at second base, who flipped to LeBron who relayed to Hodo at first for the twin killing, setting up the heroics in the bottom half.
Will Plattner, who had entered the game in the seventh in relief of Brady Neal, walked to start the inning. Bonomolo laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to advance Plattner. Mizell hit a fly ball to short left field that was hauled in by left field Rippen on a diving play. That brought the countrys best player in Justin LeBron to the plate. LeBron worked back from a 1-2 count to a full count, fouled off three pitches until he found one he liked, and hammered it to left field to bring Plattner home with the winning run. The run driven in was the 51st of the season for the sophomore shortstop, good enough to lead the country.
Alabama hit only 5-30 in the game with six walks, one hit batter, four strikeouts, two doubles, two stolen bases, one sac bunt, left seven men on base, and did not commit an error. Snell was the only Tide player with multiple hits with his 2-4 night with a double and run. Staton drove in two with his double and added a walk. LeBron was 1-4 with a hit by pitch and the game winning RBI. The win was Alabama’s third walk off win of the season. Mizell has played in 25 of the teams 26 games and has reached base in each one of them. Hodo has appeared in all 26 games and has reached base in all of them. Snell now has a stretch of 23 straight games of reaching base. Plattner has now reached base in 10 straight games. Ozmer was the winning pitcher and improved to 2-0. Tide pitchers combined to strikeout out 14 batters, tied for the teams season high.
The Lions finished 6-31 at the plate with four walks, one hit batter, 14 strikeouts, two doubles, one home run, a sacrifice fly, one error, and left seven men on base. Loving was 2-3 with a walk and Ripper drove in two with his third home run of the season. UNA entered the game with only 10 home runs as a team on the season. Fourth Lion pitcher Carson Howard was tagged with the loss and is now 0-1 on the season.
Not the best offensive performance by the Tide over an overmatched team of Lions. Pitching and defense were good, but the bats could just never get going. The win stopped a two game losing streak and propels Bama to their next test, a weekend series hosting 9th ranked Oklahoma. Game one will be Friday at 6 p.m. CT and can be seen on the SEC Network Plus. Saturday’s game two is scheduled for 12 noon and will be shown on the SEC Network. The series finale is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. and will be on SEC Network Plus.
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