Alabama Baseball Gritty Not Pretty In Saturday Regional Victory

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- It took 7-seeded Alabama three innings to dent the scoreboard, but four runs in the third inning gave the Crimson Tide control of the contest, and Alabama defeated USC Upstate 7-5 to advance to Sunday's winner's bracket game.

"Great win. That was just a toughness, gritty win," Alabama coach Rob Vaughn said. "I knew going into it - we talked to the guys and I said this during the interview in the game - a Kane Sweeney team is going to be tough as nails, and those guys were. That was a tough group. I knew at 7-2 they weren't going away and they just kept coming. Just got to credit our guys. I thought Zaner [Zane Adams] did an unbelievable job at the start of the game, just continuing to minimize and had some times that could've got messy and just made pitches in huge spots.

"That's what he's done for three years. We all love it when there's 15 punch outs and there's nobody on base, but the reality is those guys ran off a good plan and tough at-bats and when he needed to he made huge, huge pitches and kept it at two before we could flip it to Matty [Matthew Heiberger]. Really good stuff there. Then when 1 [Justin Lebron] gets going, it gets pretty fun. What a special game by him. That's what it is, big time players, that's what they do in big games. They show up and they do what he did today. Just a gritty team effort."

Alabama and USC Upstate inexplicably endured over an hour delay before the game started, disrupting the momentum both teams captured by winning on Friday.

The Crimson Tide offense stranded three runners in the first two frames as USC Upstate starting pitcher Chris Torres kept Alabama from turning a hit and two walks into runs.

USC Upstate pulled Torres in the third, turning to Wyatt Land from the bullpen. The skies opened in the third inning, and the rain that was promised arrived, and in the deluge, Alabama's offense delivered.

Alabama star shortstop Justin Lebron got the inning going with a one-out single. He immediately stole the first of two bases on the evening to give the Crimson Tide a runner in scoring position. Brady Neal struck out swinging, but Alabama senior third baseman Jason Torres refused to make it a wasted inning. He ripped a double down the left field line to score Lebron and get the Crimson Tide on the board.

John Lemm leaned in as the rain continued and was hit, putting two men on base for Crimson Tide freshman Eric Hines. The left fielder took Land deep over the right field wall for a three-run bomb, giving Alabama a 4-0 lead.

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Four runs were all the Crimson Tide needed to take control of the contest as starting pitcher Zane Adams limited the Spartans' offense. USC Upstate got runners on base in all six of Adams' innings, but the redshirt junior fought hard, allowing two runs on six hits, stranding seven runners, with five strikeouts and three walks.

Alabama added insurance runs in each of the next three innings to control the contest. Bryce Fowler hit a triple, his second of the weekend, in the fourth, and Lebron singled to bring him home. Peyton Steele drew a six-pitch, two-out, bases-loaded walk in the fifth inning, and Lebron opened the sixth with a blast over the left field fence for a solo home run.

Matthew Heiberger entered in relief for Alabama in the seventh inning. The junior struggled, allowing the first two batters to get on base with an error and a walk before forcing the Spartans into a double-play. Unfortunately, Heiberger wasn't able to get out of the inning, allowing a two-out, two-run home run to Johnny Sweeney, cutting Alabama's lead to 7-4.

Heiberger returned in the eighth and managed a clean inning, but the junior ran into trouble in the ninth as Alabama tried to close the door on the Spartans. Maloy Heaghney hit a one-out single to start the rally, and Johnny Sweeney kept the inning going, reaching base with two outs on Alabama's sixth error of the night. Trey Bentley made the Crimson Tide pay with a double, scoring Heaghney and putting the game-tying run on second base. Jake Armsey got hold of Heiberger's next pitch, but couldn't launch it deep enough as Fowler hauled in the third out at the warning track to seal the win.

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