Alabama Baseball Swept in Doubleheader by No. 1 Texas A&M, Dropping Series

Friday's doubleheader did not bring the desired result for the No. 18 Alabama baseball team.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— No. 1 Texas A&M accomplished something No. 1 Arkansas couldn’t last weekend: it defeated No. 18 Alabama in a series at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The Aggies won the first game of Friday's doubleheader 10-5 and doubled up the Crimson Tide in the second, triumphing by an 18-9 margin.

"Long day of baseball there," Alabama head coach Rob Vaughn said. "Those guys [Texas A&M] are good. That's a long lineup."

The first game started as well as the Crimson Tide could have hoped. Left-hander Greg Farone threw up four zeroes, and going into the top of the fifth, his team led 5-0. Gage Miller and Ian Petrutz each hit home runs. Farone surrendered two runs and got two outs in the top of the fifth before being lifted, but Texas A&M loaded the bases and left fielder Caden Sorrell hit a grand slam off Tyler Fay. The Aggies had taken a 6-5 lead. "It just wasn't T-Fay's day," said Vaughn. "We'll have him back ready to go for tomorrow." Farone had an extra day's rest after being moved up in the rotation.

Sorrell hit one more long ball in the game out of the number eight spot, but even more separation was created by his teammates. Including Sorrell’s two, A&M hit four as a team in the first game of the doubleheader. The sensational Braden Montgomery launched one that extended the lead to 8-5, his 21st of the season. He would add number 22 in the second game. Alabama couldn’t recover, not scoring a run after the fourth inning following a three-run third and two-run fourth. The Aggies won the game handily on the strength of their 10 unanswered runs despite being outhit 12-11. Crimson Tide center fielder TJ McCants went 4-4 in the first game with a pair of runs batted in.

The second game saw the home team fall into a deep hole early. Alabama starting pitcher Ben Hess cruised through the first inning, striking out the side, before a second-inning collapse for all intents and purposes placed the series firmly on ice. Between Hess and reliever Sam Mitchell, the Crimson Tide surrendered eight runs in the inning. Five of the runs went on Hess’ ledger, and before recording an out, he was struck on the lower leg by a comebacker. Mitchell was called upon to take the bump after him, giving up four hits and a base on balls before finally ending the frame.

Catcher Mac Guscette had yet to hit a home run all season until the bottom half of the inning, when the bases were loaded. He hit a ball just over the wall in left field to send them all home and halve the deficit in one shot. The Aggies (35-4, 13-4 SEC) took the momentum back from there on out, winning the game 18-9. Alabama had fought the deficit down to 13-7 at one point, and saw Guscette go 4-5 and shortstop Justin Lebron hit two home runs in the game (his seventh and eighth of the campaign), but it wasn't near enough. Vaughn added that Guscette's at-bats had improved since the Kentucky series, and that Lebron's success can be attributed to maturity.

The Aggies had three players with four runs batted in in the second game: Montgomery, star center fielder Jace LaViolette and designated hitter Hayden Schott. The visitors totaled 18 hits in the doubleheader's encore. "You think you get through the first three and you're like, 'Oh, thank goodness,'" Vaughn said. "There's not really a place to breathe in there, and you just have to execute pitches... If you don't, they control the strike zone at a really high level, they can do damage on the baseball." LaViolette and Montgomery hit second and third, respectively. Meanwhile, the leadoff man in Alabama's order, Miller, saw his on-base streak end at 37 games following his home run in the series opener. He has 16 big flies this season.

Vaughn thought his team showed fight where others might have phoned it in, such as in the second inning of game two when Alabama (24-15, 6-11 SEC) was down eight and its starter exited the game hurt. "We weren't good enough," he said, "All that matters is how we show up tomorrow... I thought they fought hard in that second game when a lot of teams wouldn't." He downplayed Thursday's weather postponement that led to the doubleheader, instead choosing to focus on the opportunity presented to win the series finale Saturday, which is set for noon CT. Zane Adams starts on the mound in his first appearance since posting eight shutout innings against Arkansas.

"The SEC's a whole other animal," he said. "In this league, what it's really about is the toughness and the grit that you can show throughout, when you are your back against the wall. That's what good teams do, they find a way to salvage the weekend."