Alabama Closer Alton Davis II Makes Much-Anticipated Season Debut, Strikes Out 3
TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Sewell-Thomas Stadium was home to a sweep on opening weekend. The No. 19 Alabama baseball team, playing in the regular season for the first time under new head coach Rob Vaughn, prevailed over Manhattan College in a three-game set by a combined score of 30-8. However, numbers rarely tell the full story, and Sunday's close game necessitated the services of a fan-favorite player: closing pitcher Alton Davis II.
The southpaw was one of the breakout players of the 2023 campaign and earned Second Team Freshman All-American honors from the NCBWA, as well as being named to the Freshman All-SEC Team. He struck out 32 batters in in 33.2 innings and saved eight games. He warmed in the bullpen during Friday's contest, a 4-0 win on Opening Day, but the honor of finishing that one out went to Braylon Myers.
Saturday's game was noncompetitive, a run-rule victory, but when the script flipped on Sunday, Vaughn called on Davis II as his closer for the first time this spring. He entered to a loud ovation. The sophomore has been built up throughout the offseason for potential starts, but when it came down to his first appearance of the new season, familiar territory was the name of the game.
"Whenever they need me, I'm just gonna be the best I can, prepare every single day," Davis said. "This group of guys is something. I've never seen the chemistry we have... This season is gonna be fun, I just want everybody to know. It's gonna be fun."
The Jaspers fought back from big deficits multiple times. It was 4-0 Alabama, then 4-3. It was 9-3, then 9-7. Third baseman Gage Miller's eighth-inning home run, the Crimson Tide's fifth of the day, stretched the home team's lead to 11-8. Davis inherited a 10-8 game in the top half of that frame and got hit on the leg by a sharp comebacker on the first batter he faced. If it weren't for a first-inning, two-run error at short by Manhattan, with all else held equal, Alabama's southpaw stopper would've come into a tie game.
That comebacker resulted in a single, bringing the tying run to the dish. Davis induced a fielder's choice, then a foul popout, then sat down pinch hitter Vincent Davis with a swinging strikeout to retire the side. He didn't need Miller's long ball, as it turned out, but perhaps he was bolstered by it as he struck out a pair in the ninth inning and recorded his first save of the new year. As for the leg?
"I'll be ready. That's all that matters," Davis said. It was bothering him postgame, but that'll happen when a baseball comes straight at a limb off a metal bat, and he brushed off concerns by saying in part "We've got one of the best athletic trainers."
"I watched that dude run out there and high-five all the [Right Field] Ragers, and all of a sudden, it starts limping," said Vaughn with a chuckle. Davis finished with a two-inning line including one hit, one base on balls and three strikeouts. His largely lockdown season debut was also historic since it closed out the first sweep of the Vaughn era. He figures to be a big part of the team's designs and vision for the 2024 season, in whatever capacity that may be.
