Quick Work: Alabama pitcher back in action after injury, picks up win

In his first start of the season a year ago, Alabama pitcher Riley Quick left the game with an elbow injury after just three innings. He underwent Tommy John surgery and his season was over as quickly as it started.

On Saturday, Quick was back on the mound, and again he pitched just three innings. This time, he left in good health and with the Crimson Tide ahead comfortably against Bradley, 9-0.

Quick allowed two hits and struck out four in his first outing of 2025 and Alabama routed Bradley 19-3.

“Really happy for the kid,” Alabama coach Rob Vaughn said of Quick. “When you work as hard as these kids work and to have it taken away from you, it’s tough. He had to grind and work his tail off to get back and we’re fortunate to have him where he’s at now.”

It was almost exactly a year ago when Quick took the ball against Manhattan in his first start with the Crimson Tide. As a freshman in 2023, Quick was used in a relief role, pitching 22 innings.

In that lone 2024 start, Quick got the win, pitching three hitless innings with five strikeouts.

“He’s on a pitch count,” Vaughn said. “He’s coming up on a year coming off Tommy John surgery, so he’s going to be on a pitch count for the foreseeable future. He knew he had about 45 pitches to play with, and we were hoping to get him through three (innings).”

Alabama (2-0) wasted little time breaking the game opening in the first inning. Justin Lebron doubled to the gap in left-center field to put runners on second and third. Bryce Fowler scored on a wild pitch and Garrett Staton singled to center field to score Lebron and Will Hodo for a quick 3-0 lead.

The Crimson Tide tacked on more run in the third. An RBI single from Jason Torres got it started. Cade Snell then ripped a double to right-center field to score Hodo and Torres for a 6-0 Alabama lead to knock Bradley starter Drew Politte out of the game.

Coleman Mizell added to the lead with an RBI single and Will Plattner’s groundout brought in a run to make it 8-0. A throwing error scored Mizell. Alabama scored six runs on five hits in the inning.

Garrett Staton put the game out of reach with a grand slam in the fourth inning for a 13-0 lead. It’s the first home run for Staton, a Samford transfer, as a member of the Crimson Tide. Mizell followed with a solo bomb to right field to make it 14-0. Alabama added three more runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh for a 19-1 lead.

Alabama banged out 16 hits with Lebron, Snell, Staton, Hodo and Mizell each getting two. Staton had six RBIs while Mizell, Hodo and Snell each had two. Alabama used five relievers: Hagan Banks, Tate Robertson, Matthew Heiberger, Aeden Finateri and Anthony Pesci. The Tide pitching staff allowed just six hits with 10 strikeouts.

The Crimson Tide closes out the season opening weekend Sunday against Bradley at 1 p.m.