Jarvis’ Walk-Off Lifts Alabama Baseball Over Nicholls in Opener of Tuscaloosa Regional
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The sport of baseball has a lot of sayings.
Alabama shortstop Jim Jarvis has been struggling at the plate for quite some time. Saying that he was “due” for a big hit in a big spot would be an understatement.
He finally got that big hit — and it couldn’t have come at a better time, as it was Jarvis that picked up the walk-off single in the Crimson Tide’s 4-3 win over Nicholls late Friday night at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
How about another baseball saying?
Having a stellar starting pitcher in the postseason is the great equalizer. You can beat anybody if the guy you have on the mound has his best stuff that given night.
For the Colonels (34-23, 15-9 SLC), freshman RHP Jacob Mayers has been that guy all season. Mayers came into Friday night 9-1 with a 1.93 ERA. Physically and emotionally, he had the “it” factor — but it just so happened that Alabama (41-19, 16-14 SEC) had a guy that could match him on the mound.
That guy is RHP Luke Holman.
“[Mayers’] fastball was extremely electric,” Jarvis said.
“Mayers is really good,” interim head coach Jason Jackson said. “Our guy was pretty dang good too. [...] It was fun to see two good arms thundering away at it — just going out there and throwing up zeroes, making big pitches. Going in, we knew Luke was going to need to slow them down early to keep us in the ballgame — which he did a good job of.”
Back to Jarvis. Not only has he been struggling recently, but he’s been through a lot of losses and failure in his four years in Tuscaloosa. Hosting a regional for the first time since 2006, the Crimson Tide’s fate was in Jarvis’ hands on Friday night — and he delivered.
“It was like a dream,” Jarvis said. “It still doesn’t even really feel real. It’s just a great moment to be able to help the team. I haven’t been able to do that recently that much [so] it was nice to be able to do something for us.”
Time and time again this season, Alabama has had its back against the wall and thrown a powerful punch right back — and Friday night’s win was no different. For the first half of the game, it looked like the Crimson Tide was against an immovable object in Mayers.
But after nine innings, it was Alabama that prevailed — and is now four wins away from the College World Series.
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