Alabama Baseball Cruises Past Jacksonville State in Final Non-Conference Game
If only they were all this easy.
After dealing with its share of midweek mishaps this year, Alabama baseball cruised to a 13-6 victory at Jacksonville State on Tuesday night in its final non-conference game of the regular season. The win completes a sweep for the Crimson Tide as it beat the Gamecocks 6-3 in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Feb. 22.
Alabama (27-22) has struggled to put away smaller opponents this year, dropping five midweek games, including three straight in March. During Tuesday night's drubbing of Jacksonville State (21-26) those midweek frustrations were nowhere to be found.
Andrew Pinckney supplied Alabama with an early lead, lining a two-run home run over the left-field wall in the top of the first inning. Three innings later, Zane Denton helped the Crimson Tide break things open, lifting a grand slam over the right-field fence to extend the lead to 7-0.
Tommy Seidel added Alabama’s third home run with a two-run shot to center in the top of the eighth. In total, the Crimson Tide piled up 18 hits, feasting on a Gamecocks pitching staff that rolled out six pitchers on the night.
Antoine Jean (3-1) returned from an undisclosed injury to get the start for Alabama. The junior left-hander earned the win, scattering three hits and a walk over a scoreless 2⅓ innings before giving way to the bullpen. He threw 28 pitches on the night.
Brayden Gainey relieved Jean, striking out four while allowing just one hit over 2⅔ innings. Landon Green then struck out a batter over a perfect inning. Alabama allowed Jacksonville State to ruin the strong pitching performance over the final three innings as Hunter Furtado and Baylen Myers gave up three earned runs apiece to close out the game. However, by that point, Alabama already had the win well within its grasp.
The game’s only bit of drama came during the bottom of the first inning as Jacksonville State appeared poised to answer back to Alabama’s early advantage, putting runners on first and second base with no outs. The rally was quickly undone as Alabama catcher Will Portera blocked a pitch in the dirt before scurrying to his left to pick up the ball and gun down the advancing runner at third base. From there, Jean got former Crimson Tide outfielder T.J. Reeves to ground into a double play to get out of the jam.
Following Tuesday’s win, Alabama will travel to Auburn for a three-game series this weekend. From there, the Crimson Tide will conclude SEC play by hosting Arkansas for a three-game series the following weekend.
