No. 12 Alabama Baseball Takes First SEC Loss Against No. 1 Tennessee

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— After a historic 22-1 start to the season in the second year of Rob Vaughn’s tenure as head baseball coach, the Alabama Crimson Tide Baseball team was in position to move to 5-0 in SEC play and take a series win against the nation’s No. 1 team and defending national champions, Tennessee.

It was a sold out crowd in the Joe on Friday night, something Vaughn felt the team deserved after the team has rocketed up the polls in recent weeks. Nevertheless, an early five-run deficit proved too much to overcome as the Volunteers pulled out a 10-7 victory.

“This group was incredibly tough tonight,” said Vaughn, “just a couple too many mistakes. We ran ourselves out of the eighth, which kind of comes back to bite you a little bit. I think you’ve got two of not only the best teams in our league, you’ve got two of the best teams in the country going toe to toe right now.”

Despite dealing with a blood blister, right-handed pitcher Riley Quick took the ball for the Crimson Tide, and the Volunteers took control before Alabama got a single baserunner.

For Quick (4-1), uncharacteristically low-velocity and hard contact surrendered combined with the inability to effectively throwing breaking ball made for a tough outing. Tennessee possesses one of the deepest and most potent lineups in the entire country, and after two innings and nine baserunners, the Alabama right-hander’s night was over.

On the other side, Tennessee’s own hard-throwing right hander, Marcus Philips, answered the runs scored from his offense with a pair of dominant shutout innings. The Crimson Tide batters finally caught up to him in the third, starting the inning with two base hits that both would score and cut the Tennessee lead to three.

Relievers J.T. Blackwood and Austin Morris kept Alabama in the game, tossing three straight scoreless frames, and in the bottom of the fifth, Justin Lebron lined an RBI-single to make it 5-3.

Morris’s night ended after the sixth, and it was the sophomore’s best stuff of the season. The right-hander tossed two perfect innings with four strikeouts on just 24 pitches after entering the game with an ERA of 5.87.

“He was awesome,” Vaughn said. “That guy that threw those two innings, I don’t care what his ERA is going to be high leverage innings for us."

Another right-hander, Tyler Fay, was the fourth pitcher of the night for the Crimson Tide, and a two-out walk in the seventh was followed by an RBI double from Tennessee pinch hitter, Dalton Bargo. However, Alabama matched the run with one of their own in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single from Torres to make it a 6-4 Tennessee lead through seven innings.

After two strikeouts to begin the top of the eighth, Fay runs into more two-out trouble, giving up a single followed by a two-run home run off the bat of Dean Curley. Right-hander, Beau Bryans, subsequently walked the bases loaded followed immediately by the first left-hander of the night for the Crimson Tide, Connor Ball, giving up a two-run single to grow the Volunteer lead to 10-4.

Alabama tried to answer with a two-our rally that included an RBI single from Fowler in the eighth. With the NCAA RBI leader Justin Lebron batting with a 3-1 count, a double-steal attempt failed with the Alabama right fielder getting thrown out at second.

“Yeah, just not a good decision,” Vaughn said regarding the move. “Those guys have electricity in their arms, but they’re pretty easy to run on. We had been kind of stealing bags all night. That wasn’t a situation we should have been moving, would love to have that one back.”

The Crimson Tide entered the bottom of the ninth down five runs, but a one-out solo shot from Coleman Mizell was followed by a walk and two singles to add another, bringing Kade Snell to the plate representing the tying run. However, Alabama instead conceded the game with a flyout and strikeout

Alabama (22-2 overall, 4-1 SEC) will have a rubber match with Tennessee (21-2,4-1 SEC) Saturday early-afternoon at 1 p.m. CT.

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