Alabama Baseball Beats Georgia Twice Sunday, Changes Host Prospects with Series Win

The Crimson Tide's series win against Georgia was one of the most important of the entire season.

Alabama's Richie Bonomolo Jr. (5) celebrates with teammates against Georgia. / Alabama Athletics

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Momentum was not in the corner of the Alabama baseball team on Friday night when rain suspended game two of its doubleheader with No. 6 Georgia. After action resumed Sunday, the No. 23 Crimson Tide hit its stride, winning that game 9-3 and the series finale 5-4 hours later.

It is the first time in the 2025 season that Alabama (39-13, 15-12 SEC) has won a series after losing that series' opening game. Georgia blasted the Crimson Tide with six home runs en route to a 19-3 victory in seven innings on Friday evening just before the rain delay that lasted through Saturday.

"Just a great day of baseball for us," head coach Rob Vaughn said. "That [Georgia] offense is scary. They grind out at-bats. There's some power. Power arms on the mound. Just really proud of our kids. We got bloodied up pretty good in game one [Friday], and like I knew they would, they responded."

The Crimson Tide led 6-2 at the pause of Friday night's second game in the top of the fifth with righty Riley Quick pitching. When things got back underway, Alabama scored three more while only giving up one. Over the course of the weekend, Bryce Fowler, Justin Lebron and Richie Bonomolo Jr. all recorded home runs in the contest. Bonomolo's three-run shot, the last of the three, was the dagger.

Braylon Myers took over for Quick on Sunday and got the win in the second game of the series. He went 2.2 innings in a game that was already basically halfway over when he got the ball, surrendering one run. Closer Carson Ozmer came in after him and got the first of two Sunday saves.

"I came here to be in those spots," Ozmer said. "It was just special, being on Mother's Day today. My mom was up in the stands. She's the happiest one out there."

She had reason to be happy for her son, since he not only set the new program record for single season saves, but also took the lead in the country in saves with his second of the afternoon. That was in game three of the series. He now has 16 on the season.

In the series finale, Alabama took a 1-0 lead during the first inning on a Will Hodo single but left plenty of meat on the bone by stranding the bases loaded. Home runs from Jason Torres and team captain Kade Snell (who reached double digits with his 10th of the year) in the second inning stretched the lead to 4-0.

Georgia fought back into the seven-inning game with a two-run top of the third, featuring the first career home run from second baseman Bryce Clavon in his first career start. Alabama got its fifth run of the game in the home fourth on an RBI double from shortstop Justin Lebron, who had three hits in the game.

"He's gonna have a career in the big leagues," Vaughn said. "Now's the time where he gets rolling like this, you saw some big swings this weekend, and that dude has the ability to carry your team when he gets rolling down the stretch."

The Bulldogs (40-13, 16-11 SEC) made it tense for the home team on Senior Day with a two-run home run in the top of the sixth from designated hitter Dan Jackson. When Ozmer came in and sealed his team's first home series victory over Georgia since 2015, he left a Bulldog runner on second, the tying run.

Sophomore pitcher Zane Adams got his seventh win of the season in the final game of the weekend, throwing four innings and allowing two runs. His numbers have been much improved since the LSU series and he struck out eight on Sunday.

"I've been proud of Zane all year," Vaughn said. "Some guys can't pull themselves back up when they get knocked down... For Zane, 10 years down the road when he's in pro ball and in the big leagues pitching, those experiences are gonna help him be who he is."

The series represented two of Alabama's best wins of the year, not just because of postseason importance, but because of the logistically difficult backdrop they came in front of. Georgia scored two runs in the top of the first inning of game two on Friday immediately after winning a game 19-3. Alabama scored four in the home half and did not look back.

Alabama's 15-12 SEC record with this series triumph has taken it out of the hosting bubble as of this moment, but in a positive direction. Winning next weekend's series at Florida, which starts on Thursday, all but closes the deal on the Crimson Tide hosting a regional again.

"There's a legend [Nick Saban] that spent a lot of time across the street [at the Mal Moore Athletic Facility] that talked about what that is," Vaughn said. "That rat poison will do nothing to help us be ready to rock next Thursday at Gainesville... That's a really good baseball team on the road."

Ozmer expects the Crimson Tide team to be more than up to the challenge, even though more than 50 regular season games have been played, and a lot of physical exertion has been spent by players all over the country.

"Every team we're gonna play that's in this conference is gonna be a star-studded team," Ozmer said. "We're definitely looking forward to it and ready for the test."

See Also:

manual