No. 17 Alabama Baseball Slides Past Middle Tennessee in First Midweek Contest
TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Midweek games have been an area of struggle for the Alabama baseball program in recent years. That category of the calendar is almost exclusively responsible for the 2022 team missing the NCAA Tournament. The first midweek game of the Rob Vaughn era, however, will go into the history books as a success.
The No. 17 Crimson Tide (4-0) took to the diamond on Tuesday to face Middle Tennessee after a sweep against Manhattan College in the opening series. In that series, Ole Miss transfer outfielder TJ McCants was a major offensive player, and he didn't cool off against the Blue Raiders. His efforts were a big part of the difference in Alabama's 6-1 win.
"I think just buying into the plan that they [the coaches] put together for us," McCants, who had three runs batted in, said of what he needs to do to maintain his consistency at the plate. "That's what I've done, and I think it's working pretty good." He's been bought into the hitting practices the team is doing, including plate discipline exercises. "[He's] hit a home run in Omaha before," Vaughn said. "He's played at a really, really high level in some big-time games."
Both teams cycled through a fair number of pitchers for a game that ended with a close result. Vaughn's decision to pull lefty starter Greg Farone from the contest after 2.2 innings and five punchouts might well have been influenced by news that Saturday starter Riley Quick would be undergoing Tommy John surgery, which happened Tuesday afternoon. The coaching staff found out late on Monday afternoon that his UCL was injured after his only start of the regular season. Farone took to the mound for his first start and threw 22 strikes on 34 pitches and may be a candidate to fill the empty hole in the rotation. Freshman Austin Morris tossed three strong innings in relief midway through the game, getting the win while Braylon Myers earned the save.
McCants started the scoring with a two-run bomb to right field in the third inning. It was his second of the campaign, tying him for the early team lead following two straight games without a home run last Friday and Saturday. He was the one who sent the first over-the-wall home run out of The Joe this season on Sunday. He went on to post an RBI groundout in the ensuing plate appearance during the fifth, sending infielder Bryce Eblin home for the second time in the afternoon. Eblin reached by way of a triple for his first hit of the season. "I made contact, and honestly, I thought it was gonna be caught. I was trying to hustle, ended up seeing it drop," Eblin said. "I decided to go three, and it was big because TJ hit me in and scored that run."
The final margin began to be decided just after stretch time in the seventh when a critical throwing error at the hot corner allowed left fielder Ian Petrutz to score. The Blue Raiders originally got on the board in the fourth inning by way of a Trace Phillips single, scoring catcher Briggs Rutter. Middle Tennessee ultimately ran out seven different pitchers, giving the Crimson Tide bats different looks. The seventh arm, James Sells, surrendered a one-out solo home run to Eblin in the eighth that marked his first RBI and third run scored in the game. Leadoff hitter Gage Miller then went back-to-back with his fellow infielder for his second long ball since Sunday.
"The first one, I kinda got quick-pitched, and then, really, I was just trying to hit a line drive and make good contact to get us more runs," said Eblin. "I was happy it went out."
It was the first of two midweeks on the calendar, the next one being the first of two meetings this spring with Alabama State. Considering that these are the games previous Alabama teams had a tendency to drop, Tuesday's result was just how Vaughn and his staff drew it up. The bats got hot once again, furthering the head coach's continued belief that the baseballs would eventually start flying out of Sewell-Thomas, a sentiment he expressed last weekend while the hard-hit ones weren't carrying. The bullpen didn't have its best day on Sunday but bounced back nicely in a one-run effort. If it is to be Farone who fills Quick's role, his swing-and-miss stuff offered a lot for the coaching staff to build on.
"I thought Greg was outstanding," Vaughn said. The Louisville transfer pitched over the weekend against Manhattan for his Alabama debut, and it was figured then that he would start Tuesday, "He attacked with the fastball, was landing secondary stuff... It's hard to get above that fastball." Using the term 'replace' for Quick's successor in the rotation isn't something Vaughn and staff are doing, but Farone is a candidate. "We'll kinda see how the rest of this week goes, see how he's feeling, and we'll kinda get a good plan for the weekend come Thursday," Vaughn said.
