Lack of Offense Sends Alabama Baseball Into Offseason

The Crimson Tide’s season comes to a close in Tallahassee.

Alabama Athletics

Nine. 

That is the amount of runners that the Alabama Crimson Tide baseball team left on base in its 4-0 elimination game loss against the Stetson Hatters in the NCAA Tournament. A statistic that has plagued the team’s success for the entirety of the season sends it into the offseason. 

Alabama fell behind early as pitcher Ben Hess gave up a solo home run to Stetson leadoff man Kyle Jones in the home half of the first inning. The junior found his form shortly after and only allowed two additional earned runs in his outing, a sacrifice fly in the third and an RBI-double by Isaiah Barkett in the seventh. The Hatters scored a run in the sixth on an RBI groundout, but it was unearned due to an error by left fielder Ian Petrutz on the previous play. 

In total, Hess allowed five hits, four runs (three earned), walked three batters, and struck out eight in 6.2 innings of work. Austin Morris entered the game out of the bullpen and pitched the remainder of the game. 

The Crimson Tide had multiple opportunities to score in the contest, but the closest chance came in the fourth. Designated hitter Kade Snell attempted to score from third on a wild pitch, but was tagged out at the plate. Head coach Rob Vaughn tried to challenge, and the play was briefly reviewed. However, the review was called off by the umpires due to too much time elapsing between the play and challenge. 

As a whole, Alabama’s offense recorded five hits and four drawn walks. The group stranded the bases loaded in the first, on the corners in the fourth and fifth, and a runner on first base in the third and seventh.

The Crimson Tide finishes its season with a 33-25 record, 13-18 in SEC play, with a seventh-place conference finish and apperances in the SEC Tournament and NCAA Regionals.