Alabama Baseball Hosts First Practice of Fall

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama baseball hosted its first official practice of fall on Friday afternoon, holding a one-hour session of batting and field practice before a four-inning scrimmage.

NCAA teams are allowed to have 27 practices over the course of September and October in order to prepare for exhibition games. This year, the Crimson Tide will host Mississippi State on Oct. 21 before traveling to Auburn on Oct. 28.

“The kids were really excited to play today after training for a month,” head coach Brad Bohannon said following the practice. “We got great kids, they give great effort, and they love to play and practice. The pitching was a little bit ahead of the hitting, but we did some good things both on the mound and at the plate.

"This was a very good starting point today, and I’m very pleased.”

In addition to all three of Alabama's regular weekend starting pitchers returning for next season, the Crimson Tide also has six of its regular bats in the lineup returning as well. Among the returning fielders are shortstop Jim Jarvis, catcher Dominic Tamez, first baseman Drew Williamson and outfielder Andrew Pinckney, to name just a few.

Speaking of Pinckney, the redshirt-junior center fielder smacked a two-run home run in the bottom of the first during Alabama's scrimmage, which sailed about 400 feet over the wall in left-center field. Pinckney's home run was the only one of the scrimmage.

On the mound, the trio of Garrett McMillan, Jacob McNairy and Grayson Hitt are all returning. According to Bohannon, Hitt has been very impressive in his progress thus far this offseason.

"Pinck's a beast, man," Bohannon said. "He just gets better and better and better. He's just got the right mentality and obviously a lot of physical tools to work with. He's the least of my worries. He's going to have a great season for us."

Gallery: Alabama Baseball's First Practice of Fall

Photos courtesy of Alabama Athletics