Alabama Baseball Suffers Game 3 Loss at Florida, to be No. 9 SEC Tournament Seed

The No. 18 Alabama baseball team could have stamped itself as a regional host candidate and earned a first-round SEC Tournament bye with a series win at Florida Saturday. Instead, the No. 23 Gators won 9-3, sending the Crimson Tide to the opening game in Hoover on Tuesday morning.

A comeback 7-6 win in Thursday's opener set the stage for Florida (37-19, 15-15 SEC) to win the series at home in Condron Ballpark on Saturday. Alabama never led in game three, falling behind from the jump due to a leadoff home run by Gator shortstop Bobby Boser in the first.

Catcher Brody Donay, who made his mark on the final conference series of the regular season, also tagged a first-inning solo home run off sophomore Crimson Tide starting pitcher Zane Adams. An unsightly throwing error on the Florida infield in the second gave Alabama its first run of the contest.

Florida right fielder Ty Evans sent a two-strike pitch yard in the home half of the third. The fourth run Adams gave up in the ball game came off the bat of Landon Stripling in the form of a fourth-inning RBI single. Adams finished with 3.1 innings, four runs (all earned) and 45 strikes on 72 pitches.

The fifth inning of games has been a turning point throughout the weekend, to Florida's benefit on Thursday and to Alabama's on Friday. The pendulum swung back the other way in the finale; the Gators put up a five-spot in the bottom of the fifth Saturday.

Three Alabama pitchers bore the brunt of that inning: Austin Morris, Connor Lehman and Aeden Finateri. Lehman took a bit longer to get ramped up this spring due to the injury bug, and the freshman has gotten some tough innings under his belt.

Alabama had scored a run in the visiting half of the inning thanks to an RBI double from right fielder Bryce Fowler, cutting a 4-1 deficit to 4-2. The ensuing barrage by the home squad was not the result of punishing power, but rather the product of multiple defensive miscues and one single.

Saturday's game had six combined errors between the participating teams. Important, the contest certainly was. Clean, it absolutely was not. The Gators did not score again following the fifth frame, and the Crimson Tide added just one more on a sacrifice fly by shortstop Justin Lebron in the seventh.

Boser finished the game with three runs batted in for Florida. Donay and Ashton Wilson had two runs scored, as did Alabama second baseman Brennen Norton. Fowler collected two hits. Crimson Tide center fielder Richie Bonomolo Jr. scored the visitors' other run.

The Crimson Tide will have to play in the first round of the conference tournament as a result of Saturday's loss, checking in as the No. 9 seed for the second time in three years. Rob Vaughn's team will face a group it swept in April, No. 16-seed Missouri, on Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. CT.

Alabama's final regular season record stands at 40 wins and 15 losses, with 16 SEC wins. Those statistics mean the Crimson Tide is still a potential host, but will need to leave a strong final impression via an effective performance in Hoover next week.

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