Alabama Baseball's Bats Stymied in Sweep-Clinching Loss at Kentucky

It was another difficult day for Alabama baseball's offense in a Sunday loss against Kentucky.

The Alabama baseball team huddles in Lexington, Ky. / Alabama Athletics

One day after Dominic Niman pitched a three-hit, complete game shutout, the No. 13 Alabama baseball team again fell victim to a quality Kentucky pitching performance on Sunday. The No. 17 Wildcats clinched the sweep over the Crimson Tide, which is now 0-6 in SEC road games, by a final score of 10-1.

Starting pitcher Mason Moore threw 110 pitches across seven innings, only faltering in his very last frame. He gave up one run on four hits, striking out six and walking a pair. Jackson Nove followed him with two nearly-flawless innings, but the offensive output by then had put the game out of reach.

The most obvious improvement for Alabama (22-10, 4-8 SEC) on Sunday was that it scored a run. In the third inning, catcher Mac Guscette led things off with a double and a pair of groundouts (one a sacrifice bunt) scored him. That was as close as the Crimson Tide got, narrowing the deficit at the time to 3-1.

Kentucky (27-4, 11-1 SEC) has run the table in the league alongside top-ranked Arkansas and got to Crimson Tide starter Zane Adams early. The freshman Adams, pressed into the weekend rotation by a rash of injuries to the pitching staff, surrendered the contest's first three runs in the bottom of the second. That was enough for head coach Rob Vaughn to send out right-hander Tyler Fay in the third inning.

"[Kentucky] was better for three games in all three phases," Vaughn said. "It was a tough weekend, and we have to decide how we'll deal with this adversity. I trust this group."

First baseman Ryan Nicholson had two home runs on the afternoon for the Wildcats, his fifth and sixth of the season. The first came off Fay in the third inning, driving in a pair and easily getting back the run Alabama had scored in the top half. He did it again in the seventh off Alton Davis II, this time a three-run bomb to the pull side that broke the game wide open.

The Crimson Tide's offense struggled all series, and on a day when those difficulties did not abate, Nicholson's encore felt like the nail in the coffin. Kentucky scored two more runs after that to bring the score to 10-1, stranding a pair of runners in scoring position with two gone in the inning. Had one or both of them scored, the game would have ended in a run rule. Nicholson took a ball for a ride in the eighth which died at the track that would have accomplished the same. The home team scored three in the second, two in the third and five in the seventh.

In the top of the ninth inning, despite having a proper last call at its disposal to potentially orchestrate the rally of all rallies, Alabama went down in order facing Nove. In the past two games, the visitors to Kentucky Proud Park scored just one run. It has proven to be a challenge for SEC teams (minus Kentucky) to win on the road. The Crimson Tide has failed to snag even one win from its two conference road series.

"I think we'll be able to use this to move forward," Vaughn said. "The process will begin on Tuesday when we get a chance to come back out [at home] and face a good South Alabama team."

Alabama's next two series are at home, but the schedule does not get any easier: the very same Arkansas which is tied at the top of the standings with Kentucky will be the next conference opponent that the Crimson Tide faces. Five days after the conclusion of that three-game set, it will be third-ranked Texas A&M traveling to Tuscaloosa.