Alabama Baseball Run Ruled by Mississippi State Despite Lebron's Three Hits

The Bulldogs took it to the Crimson Tide pitching staff on Friday.

Alabama's Justin Lebron (1). / Alabama Athletics

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— For the second time in the past seven days, the Alabama baseball team was run ruled on Friday night. Unranked Mississippi State came in with a chip on its shoulder and triumphed 13-3 in eight innings.

"Tough night. I thought, obviously, they came out swinging in the first," head coach Rob Vaughn said. "Ultimately, I just told our guys after the game, 'That's a really good hitting team,'... They were relentless with their at-bats in the fifth inning, and that ends up being the difference in the game."

The Bulldogs (21-13, 4-9 SEC) scored seven runs in the fifth inning, tagging Crimson Tide starter Zane Adams for three runs in the top of the first and closing the book on him with seven earned charged to the sophomore left-hander across four-plus innings.

"I'll ride with Zane Adams any day of the week," Vaughn said. "I love him. He's been elite for us. He's bad back-to-back tough starts. There's no question. He had an unbelievable bullpen this week. Felt great. Stuff was good. It wasn't, and it's never, a lack of effort. It was just a lack of execution."

The top two of No. 12 Alabama's batting order had five hits between center fielder Richie Bonomolo Jr. and shortstop Justin Lebron. Lebron had a bloop double in the third that led to the Crimson Tide's first run of the ninth and a two-run home run in the fourth, giving him two batted in.

Kade Snell had the night's other RBI for the home team, scoring Lebron after his first double. Lebron had his second straight 3-for-5 showing.

"Great at-bats out of [Bonomolo]. Bron just does Bron things," Vaughn said. "Ultimately, I loved our at-bats first four innings. Thought they were awesome."

Mississippi State only used two pitchers on the night: starter Pico Kohn and Stone Simmons. They went four innings each; Simmons got the win, but both were effective. The pair combined for eight strikeouts. Alabama got 11 hits, but had little to show for it in the scoring column. Simmons had a scoreless night.

The Crimson Tide (28-7, 7-6 SEC) bats made contact, failing to put the ball where a Bulldog fielder wasn't too often, including multiple lineouts to left field that could've led to runs if the baseball found grass rather than the leather of Gehrig Frei's mitt.

With 17 hits for the visitors, there was a lot of wealth to be shared for the Bulldogs on the offensive side. Shortstop Sawyer Reeves had four hits, a home run and finished a triple shy of the cycle. First baseman Hunter Hines went deep against Adams in the first. Third baseman Ace Reese, who batted one spot behind Reeves, collected three hits.

"This is a mental grind, especially in this league" Vaughn said. "If you miss by an inch, a lot of times the other team doesn't."

The Bulldogs scored at least one run in five of a possible eight innings. The wheels fell all the way off in the top of the fifth, but Mississippi State was the better team on Friday night from the start. Chris Lemonis' squad attacked and kept going at an important point in its own schedule; the visitors can now win the series in Saturday afternoon's contest (2 p.m. CT first pitch).

"A lot of loud outs," Vaughn said. "We just missed middle way too much... I told our guys, 'Ain't nobody feel bad for you. This is college baseball. This is big-boy baseball in the SEC.' We took it on the chin again tonight.

"You'd like to come out and play a little bit better on Friday night, particularly at home against a good team, and we didn't. So at the end of the day, we've gotta show up tomorrow. It's gonna be a 0-0 game at 2:00. I trust these guys to be ready to go."

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