Norton Goes Deep Twice, Alabama Baseball Clinches Series Over North Dakota State

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— What a weekend it has been for Alabama baseball second baseman Brennen Norton.

His bat was one of the catalysts in the Crimson Tide's 9-7 win over North Dakota State on Saturday, which locked up the series with a sweep still in play. Norton, who also hit a home run on Friday in Alabama's 12-4 triumph, added two more Saturday in an encore performance.

"The past few days, I've kind of been in between, so the main thing I was telling myself is 'Don't be late on a fastball,'" Norton said. "I wasn't gonna be late on a fastball... It just kinda happened the way it did."

The Crimson Tide bullpen struggled again, but weathered a late storm from the Bison (1-8). North Dakota State loaded the bases in each of the game's last two innings, but only got one run out of the deal in the eighth. The visitors were able to send four runs across the plate in the ninth.

As for Norton, he finished with four runs batted in and joined shortstop Justin Lebron in the three-hit club. North Dakota State leadoff man Jake Schaffner also earned this distinction. Lebron connected on a home run of his own in the first inning; third baseman Jason Torres added a two-run bomb in the seventh.

"We can do anything, because we actually just worked on bunting all week this week," Norton said. "Home runs are fun, but I think small ball does win ball games. The tight ones. But it is fun to stand up there and just kinda hit balls really far."

Head coach Rob Vaughn credited the way the Bison offense was able to find the gaps and, in turn, push runners over. Situational hitting mattered in the contest. North Dakota State's Davis Hamilton, for example, has back-to-back games with multiple hits and had an RBI Saturday. Hamilton's team, rather importantly in a two-run game, left 11 men on base.

"They can really run, they can really use the short game," Vaughn said. "You're taking different things away, which, when you do that, it opens up holes."

There was a scary moment in the eighth inning in which the Bison's Colten Becker, who hit a home run off Crimson Tide starter Riley Quick in the top half of the fourth, got hit in the head by a pitch from lefty Beau Bryans. After a few minutes on the ground, he was helped off the field with the Sewell-Thomas Stadium crowd clapping for him.

"Thinking about Becker. That's a scary moment there," Vaughn said. "[Bryans] was just trying to go hard up, and it got away from him a little bit. Obviously, we'll be thinking and praying for him tonight."

Quick went four innings and now has an earned run average after posting a shutout line in his first two appearances. That number sits at 1.64 through three starts, and his fastball speed touched 99 in Saturday's game. Vaughn said he'd be fully turned loose come SEC play in a couple of weeks.

Lebron did not record a hit in Friday's game and made his presence felt often in the series' second contest. Vaughn added that it seemed likely to him opposing lineups would be scared if they retired Lebron a few times in a row, because they subsequently might know something was coming.

Closer Carson Ozmer appeared in a second consecutive game for the first time all season, under more stress in the second leg of that, and added another save to his 2025 total in his highest-leverage inning thus far.

Alabama (11-0) played well, with 11 hits total on offense, but ended up being tested for one of the first times all season, and the first since the 10-0 comeback against Ohio State last Sunday. The Crimson Tide will be able to sweep North Dakota State with a win in tomorrow's game, set for a 1 p.m. CT first pitch.

"To me, we left that door wide open in a lot of different ways," Vaughn said. "We earned that win today, but I didn't think we finished the way that I want to finish... I didn't think we did the things that I wanted to see today, but I think learning a lesson in a win is a heck of a lot more fun.

"That was our message to them out there. First game in 11 that I didn't think we were good enough today. We were not good enough to our standard. It shouldn't matter who we're playing... We're gonna judge ourselves based against the best version of how we can play."

Right-handed pitcher Bobby Alcock will get the start on Sunday, his first since the Ohio State game. Vaughn expects his team to play to its standard more in the series finale, with a potential victory setting the stage for the Crimson Tide to enter a March 4 rematch against Jacksonville State (Norton's former school) on a winning note.

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