Alabama Baseball Claims First Series Over Florida Since 2008 With 8-4 Win

"The hard thing is that's one game. It took a lot of energy out of us, and now we've got to come back tomorrow against a dang good team."
Rob Vaughn

That was Alabama baseball coach Rob Vaughn after Tyler Fay completed his historic nine-inning no-hitter to give the Crimson Tide its first SEC win of the season.

The team took Vaughn's words to heart on Saturday, showing no signs of a hangover. The Crimson Tide beat Florida 8-4 on Saturday behind a six-inning outing from Zane Adams to claim its first series win over the Gators since 2008.

After Zane Adams started the game with a 1-2-3 inning, Alabama jumped out to an early lead, as Justin Lebron walked to start the game, moved to third on a Brady Neal single, and scored on a groundout from Jason Torres.

The Gators scored their first run of the series in the second with a solo home run from catcher Karson Bowen, and took their first lead in the third off a Blake Cyr RBI single. It did not last long, as Neal and Torres drove in consecutive runs in the bottom of the inning to give Alabama a 3-2 lead that it would not relinquish.

There was no more scoring until the bottom of the fifth as Adams and Florida starter Aidan King settled in. Then, Neal drove in another run with a single through the right side that brought Bryce Fowler home. King made it through the end of that frame, and then was pulled to end the worst outing of his season.

The sophomore entered the game as the only qualified pitcher in the country with a 0.00 ERA, and gave up four runs in five innings. Alabama's bats, which had so often struggled to bring runners home, did not have that problem against King, as the team scored in every inning that it got a runner on.

Things did not get better for the Gators after King was relieved, as Justin Lebron belted a two-run blast off the scoreboard in left field for his tenth home run of the season in the seventh. Brennan Holt drove in a run in the eighth, and Neal continued his big day with his third RBI minutes later to cap off the Alabama scoring.

Adams gave Alabama a very effective six innings, allowing five hits and just two runs to earn his fourth win of the season. Matthew Heiberger worked through a scoreless seventh and eighth, before being pulled with one out in the ninth after letting runners on.

Florida finally produced more runs in the top of the ninth, thanks to a fielding error from Jason Torres that extended the frame. Ultimately, Alabama's seventh and eighth-inning insurance runs were what made the difference as the Gators produced two runs but came nowhere near pulling off the comeback.

After getting swept by Kentucky to start SEC play and dropping an ugly midweek to South Alabama on Tuesday, the pressure was mounting around Vaughn's squad. The team did many of the things it had struggled with in Saturday's win, namely strong bullpen play and delivering hits with runners in scoring position. Now, Alabama has a chance to get back to .500 in conference play as freshman Myles Upchurch takes the mound on Sunday with a series sweep in arm's reach.

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