Hodo's Grand Slam Helps Alabama Baseball Clinch First SEC Series Against Texas A&M

Senior Alabama baseball first baseman Will Hodo has developed a penchant for ninth-inning home runs. The Mississippi native hit another one on Saturday at Blue Bell Park to help the No. 17 Crimson Tide down No. 19 Texas A&M 6-2.

The win, in a contest that Alabama (19-1, 2-0 SEC) never trailed during the course of, sealed the series for the visitors against the nation's preseason No. 1 team in two games.

A classic pitchers' duel broke out at the outset between Aggies left-hander Justin Lamkin and Crimson Tide righty Riley Quick. Quick only allowed one hit and struck out six in five innings. Lamkin's five-inning final line included three hits, eight punchouts and one run; he toed the rubber to open the sixth inning but surrendered a leadoff home run to shortstop Justin Lebron.

It was the first SEC start of Quick's collegiate career, as his elbow injury last season prevented him from seeing any action beyond the month of February. He threw 86 pitches and worked around his limited spots of trouble, stranding runners on the corners in the third inning.

Lebron was held hitless in Friday's series opener, exiting the game early due to illness, but he returned to the lineup with a vengeance. He had three hits (though one should have been counted as an error) with two batted in, tying his home run total from last season and bringing his RBI total to 45.

His two runs batted in were the first two runs of the game. Texas A&M (10-8, 0-2 SEC) equaled that total at the expense of Crimson Tide reliever Tyler Fay, who gave up one run each in the seventh and eighth innings. Switch-hitting freshman Sawyer Farr got to him first with a run-scoring single, then third baseman Wyatt Henseler broke through and tied the game with an RBI single for his first hit of the series.

Both games in this series have been tied going into the final inning. Texas A&M's Clayton Freshcorn walked Richie Bonomolo Jr. to lead off the ninth, though Kaiden Wilson subsequently caught him stealing. However, the next three Alabama batters reached despite only one hit between them.

Enter Aggies pitcher Luke Jackson, removed in the ninth inning of Friday's game for Wilson just before disaster struck the home team in College Station. He struck out third baseman Jason Torres swinging as part of a difficult 0-for-5 day for the latter, but then Hodo lasered one out of the yard to break the game open for his second big fly in as many days.

Texas A&M had three errors in the game, and they were important errors. One in the seventh inning turned into Lebron's second RBI of the afternoon. Another, a grounder by right fielder Bryce Fowler in the ninth, also resulted in a run scoring.

Beset by injuries would almost be an understatement of a phrase when it comes to describing the Aggies' fortunes so far. Even so, the past two days have brought with them games that Michael Earley's squad was in a position to win. Now, the group will try to salvage one game on Sunday at 4 p.m. CT.

This story will be updated with quotes.

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