Alabama Athletics
Alabama Baseball Holds On to Beat Auburn, Remains Alive at SEC Tournament
HOOVER, Ala. — Alive and well.
Alabama baseball was faced with a difficult task after blowing a three-run lead against No. 1 seed Florida on Wednesday night.
Many teams would let that ending affect their performance the following day — especially for an early afternoon start time.
Not the Crimson Tide (40-18, 16-14 SEC).
Alabama rolled to a 7-4 win over No. 5 seed Auburn on Thursday afternoon at the Hoover Met — eliminating the Tigers (34-21-1, 17-13 SEC) and sending the Crimson Tide on to another day of baseball in the SEC tournament.
"I'm so proud of them," interim head coach Jason Jackson said. "These guys really deserve it, and they've really earned it. They've played really good baseball all year, and so to kind of see that back half of league play things kind of come together for them, so proud of them. These guys, they just really deserve it, and they've earned it. They've earned every bit of it."
As it has all season long, Alabama was a force to be reckoned with at the plate — going 14-for-35 (.400) with four extra-base hits.
Tommy Seidl and Caden Rose were the headliners. Seidl went 3-for-3 with a home run, a double and two RBIs. Rose went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Drew Williamson and Ed Johnson both recorded multi-hit games as well.
For the most part, RHP Garrett McMillan was dominant in his start. The fifth inning got a little interesting, but he was able to get the job done. He finished on 96 pitches, throwing six full innings — allowing three runs on five hits and three walks. He struck out eight — a season-high.
McMillan grew up a die-hard Alabama fan. The moment was special for him.
"It was awesome," McMillan said. "It was definitely a moment I'll remember for a while. This is one of the best environments to pitch in — definitely throughout anywhere. All the fans here, there was a bunch of people here because it was Alabama-Auburn, local. You couldn't ask for anything better than just to go out there and do your best, and I guess it worked out at the end."
With the win, the Crimson Tide picked up its 40th win of the season for the first time since 2010. Williamson, a fifth-year player, has been a part of the program since it was at the bottom of the league.
"I'll tell you, it feels a lot better than how we started out," Williamson said. "It's a lot of fun. You just trust the process and you grow in the game, and this team has just kind of been able to grow together and develop such a tight bond. To finally see it, to see the results on the field has been nice for sure."
Things got a little scary yet again at the end for Alabama. Auburn brought the tying-run to the plate with one out — but RHP Hunter Hoopes was able to lock down the victory.
The Crimson Tide will have its back against the wall yet again on Friday night against either No. 1 seed Florida or No. 4 Vanderbilt.
First pitch will be at approximately 6:30 p.m. CT on the SEC Network.
See Also:
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