Alabama Baseball Powers Past Jacksonville State in Midweek Rout

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Jacksonville State's baseball team will probably desire to scrub Tuesday's game against Alabama from its memory banks based on the first two innings alone.

The Crimson Tide (9-0) carried its home-run heroics from last weekend's Jax College Baseball Classic into the 20-11 midweek win. Alabama hit six of them in the first two innings, including two from shortstop Justin Lebron and a grand slam from center fielder Bryce Fowler.

"What a start," head coach Rob Vaughn said. "I thought we let them back up off the mat a little bit... Credit our kids for the start and the finish."

Reigning SEC Co-Player of the Week Will Hodo got his team on the board first in the opening inning, with his second three-run shot in as many games. The Gamecocks (7-2) responded with a solo home run from designated hitter Carson Hornung in the top of the second.

Observers would be forgiven for seeing a 3-1 score heading into the home half of the second inning and believing that they were in for some form of back-and-forth contest. During that inning, however, the pendulum only swung one way.

Lebron hit his two home runs during that frame, and the team as a whole hit five, stretching its lead to 16-1. Fowler's grand slam also happened during that inning.

"I think I was just more shocked that I did it," Lebron said. "Looked at [the second one], didn't know it if was gonna go fair or foul... Afterwards, I was just like, 'Wow, I mean, I did it.'"

Jacksonville State wasn't intent on a run-rule finish. It plated four runs each in the fourth and fifth innings, more than halving the deficit and bringing the score to 16-9 through five full. Many of those runs did not come by way of the long ball, but the last three in that span did, off the bat of center fielder Ace Williamson.

The Gamecocks added two more in the top of the seventh, the latter of which was the result of a rare throwing error by Lebron. Just like that, the score was 16-11, and the unanswered runs total for the visitors reached double digits.

In the eighth inning, the Crimson Tide added four more runs with a Fowler sac fly and some old-fashioned, station-to-station baseball that was aided by a late fielding miscue on an RBI double from third baseman Jason Torres. Any hopes of a Jacksonville State comeback were critically damaged by that time.

Alabama staved off further issues after the Gamecocks' 11th run, going on to win its ninth consecutive game against a foe which proved peskier than it first appeared despite not scoring more runs until the eighth inning. The Crimson Tide will not have a Wednesday midweek, instead facing off with North Dakota State for three games at Sewell-Thomas Stadium this weekend.

"I thought it was just a relentless approach at the plate," Vaughn said. "Even in those middle innings, we've been so good coming out of the bullpen, and we just weren't awesome coming out of the pen today. The at-bats in the middle innings, I still thought were great."

Fowler and Lebron each picked up five runs batted in. Hodo had four. Crimson Tide center fielder Richie Bonomolo Jr. also went 3-for-3 at the plate with a pair of walks. They and their teammates will have to turn around and play the Gamecocks on the road next week.

"Jacksonville State's not 7-2 on accident," Vaughn said. "That team is going to win games this year. We're gonna have our hands full next Tuesday when we go down to their place."

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