Alabama Baseball Beats Oklahoma in Rain-Delayed Series Finale, Loses Outfielder

The Crimson Tide defeated the Sooners on Sunday to secure a series win over a team ranked in the top 10.

Alabama third baseman Jason Torres (32). / Alabama Athletics

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— A fifth-inning outfield collision was one of the only dampers on an 8-6 Sunday win for the No. 12 Alabama baseball team, which locked up the series against No. 9 Oklahoma.

Center fielder Richie Bonomolo Jr. returned to the game, but left fielder and team captain Kade Snell had to get stitches in his left hand due to being spiked during the collision. Both went through concussion protocol.

The contest was largely a positive one for the Crimson Tide (25-4, 6-3 SEC), beyond just getting a series win over a top-10 team. Aeden Finateri, getting a spot start on a weekend without Riley Quick, came through when his team needed him with 4.2 innings and two runs.

"The big thing with Fin is, we felt like, he's been there," head coach Rob Vaughn said. "[He] didn't panic. I think that's why you trust him in that spot... Fin was great. Really happy with him."

After the Sooners plated the first run of the afternoon in the opening frame, Alabama responded in kind in the bottom of the first. Third baseman Jason Torres hit his eighth home run of the season, a three-run shot to take a lead that Alabama would not relinquish.

Going into the bottom of the second inning, the first of two rain delays struck Sewell-Thomas Stadium. Crimson Tie right fielder Bryce Fowler hit Malachi Witherspoon with a double coming out of the half-hour break in action. He ended up scoring, then Alabama added another run in the third with a Will Hodo solo home run.

Fowler has back-to-back multi-hit games and recently moved down in the batting order. He has spent much of this season as the team's leadoff man. He found his way to first base four times on Sunday.

"It's been struggles a little bit," Fowler said. "Just barrels right at people, but that's part of it. This game's hard. It's just kinda been a mindset of like, just keep pushing. Show up every day. Just try and keep hitting."

A three-run fourth inning for the Crimson Tide, featuring another RBI groundout from Snell (after he had two Saturday) and contact off Torres' bat that resulted in an error on Sooners right fielder Brayden Horton, scoring two. Oklahoma (22-5, 5-4 SEC) lost Trey Gambill, one of its best hitters of the weekend, after a first-inning walk. Horton took his place in the lineup.

The outfield collision in the fifth was to Oklahoma's benefit. Sooners leadoff hitter Jason Walk got an inside-the-park home run out of the deal. The visitors scored every run of the game from then on out. Alabama had led 8-1 entering the top of the fifth.

There were two runs each added to the scoring column for the Sooners in the seventh and eighth, including Dayton Tockey's second home run of the weekend in the eighth. Fowler saved some more runs in the seventh with a diving two-out catch.

"Good game by the boys," Vaughn said. "I thought we competed offensively. We kinda made them pay for some mistakes... Really big play there [by Fowler] with second and third and two outs, makes a diving play to get us out of that inning."

Carson Ozmer got another save following the game's second rain delay, which began in the eighth, sealing the deal on a key win and pushing the Crimson Tide to 2-1 in its first three series of league play. Vaughn gave Finateri credit for delivering the kind of start that allowed the coaching staff to manage the bullpen the way it wanted.

"Ideally, we would never walk one person, we would never hit a guy and we would never make an error," Vaughn said. "Just not baseball... Your job there is not to be perfect, your job there is just go minimize."

Next up for the Crimson Tide is Samford on Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. CT. That's infielder Garrett Staton's former school. He's been a big boost to the offense since returning against North Alabama and briefly played left field after Snell's exit and before Bonomolo's return; the other innings in left were filled by starting catcher Brady Neal, whose place behind the dish was taken by Will Plattner.

"It's huge [having him back]," Fowler said. "Obviously, hit bat's unreal. The power's real. The hit tools, real. Just kinda having a guy that can kinda do it all on both sides of the ball, that's always good to have in a lineup and on your team."

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