Alabama Baseball Loses Tight Game to No. 9 Tennessee, 9-8
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Spring was in full swing on Easter Sunday and so were the bats of Alabama baseball and No. 9 Tennessee inside Sewell-Thomas Stadium as the Crimson Tide fell to the Volunteers 9-8.
With both teams even at one victory apiece in the three-game weekend series, Alabama was seeking its first SEC series win since April 6 of 2019.
"Tough day," Alabama coach Brad Bohannon said after the loss. "Really tough day, tough weekend. I kind of feel like the story is the same right now. It's so close. Our kids competed their tails off. I couldn't just be more proud of the intangibles the kids are showing — obviously not the results that we want."
Both Alabama and Tennessee started off strong on offense in the first inning, with both teams scoring three runs. The Crimson Tide's first run of the game came off of a leadoff home run by sophomore second baseman Peyton Wilson.
Neither team could break the tie in the second but the scoring resumed in the third with two runs by the Volunteers — including one off of a bases-loaded walk — and a sac-fly by Zane Denton to put the Crimson Tide down 5-4.
In the top of the fourth, Tennessee added yet another run off of a bases-loaded walk to increase its margin. However, a solo home run by sophomore right fielder Owen Diodati kept Alabama down by one heading into the fifth.
"There were four times in the game that Tennessee scored that we answered in the bottom half, which is just phenomenal," Bohannon said. "The issue is they scored in six innings."
Neither team scored in the fifth, but Tennessee added a run in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings to increase its lead. Redshirt-sophomore catcher Sam Praytor hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh, but the Crimson Tide was unable to gain any more ground.
The story of the game were the two runs forced by bases-loaded walks. Those two runs for the Volunteers were ultimately the deciding factor in the Tennessee victory.
The series marks the third-straight SEC weekend series that Alabama has lost. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic eliminating SEC play in 2020, the Crimson Tide has not won an SEC series since almost two years to the day — Alabama won two games to one over South Carolina on April 5-6 of 2019.
Regarding pitching decisions, both starters were credited with the win and the loss, with Blade Tidwell (6-1) credited with the win for Tennessee and Connor Shamblin (3-3) saddled with the loss.
Sean Hunlee (3) of Tennessee picks up his third save of the season.
"We knew today was going to be a challenge if [Shamblin] couldn't get us in the fifth through the sixth and obviously we weren't good enough on the front end of the game," Bohannon said. "We're making some strides offensively — still striking out too much — but credit to Tennessee. It's a really competitive group.
"They throw a ton of strikes and typically they make you beat them and we're playing really, really well for 24 of 27 innings on a weekend and we gotta find a way to make it 27 innings."
With the loss, Alabama is now 16-11 and is 2-7 in SEC play. Tennessee rises to 24-5 and is 7-2 in the conference.
The Crimson Tide will take Monday off before returning to The Joe on Tuesday and Wednesday for a mid-week, two-game series against Louisiana Monroe.
