Tide Uses 8 Run First Inning To Beat Jacksonville State, 15-10
By Chris Hale
The University of Alabama picked up a win in their final out of conference game of the regular season as the defeated the Gamecocks of Jacksonville State 15-10 at Rudy Abbot Field. The Tide scored 8 runs in the first inning to jump out to the early lead and never looked back. The Tide batted above .500 for the night with their lead off hitters, with runners in scoring position and and with runners on. Alabama improves to 33-19 (14-12) for the season. They will host Mississippi State starting on Thursday for the final series of the regular season.
Starting Pitchers: Nick Eicholtz (Fr., RHP, 3-1, 2.48 ERA) vs. JSU-Tony Urban (Jr., LHP, 1-2, 6.23 ERA)
The Tide started off the game in a big way, batting through the line up in the top of the 1st. Mikey White led off the game, drawing a four pitch walk to get on base. A one out Ben Moore single put 2 on board and set up Wade Wass’ double to left field to score White. Austen Smith singled to score 2 more to give Alabama the 3-0 lead. Bama added 2 more with an RBI single from Casey Hughston and a sacrifice fly from Matthew Goodson. Three more runs came before the frame ended after 3 RBI singles in a row from White, Georgie Salem and Ben Moore. Jacksonville State had the bases loaded with 2 outs but Andre Bishop would pop out to end the threat.
The bottom half of the 3rd inning saw Jacksonville State get on the board and also cut the Tide lead in half. Eddie Mora-Loera led the frame off with a double. Griff Gordon then drew a walk to put two aboard for Paschal Petrongolo to hit an RBI single. Andre Bishop scored another on an RBI double to left center. The final two runs of the inning came on a wild pitch and a ground out from Joe McGuire.
The Tide plated one more run in the top of the 5th after a lead off triple from Hughston and a ground out from the bat of Daniel Cucjen brought him across the plate to make the score 9-4. Jacksonville State got that run back in the bottom half of the inning after an RBI double from Andre Bishop would score Griff Gordon. The next at bat Joe McGuire hit an RBI single to make the score 9-6. Silvani came to the plate as the tying run with runners on the corners but would strike out to end the 5th.
Bama added some more to their run total in the top of the 6th after Salem led off the home half with a walk and advanced to second on the ground out from Moore. Salem then scored on the RBI single from Wass to make the score 10-6. Jacksonville State would score a run in the bottom half of the inning as Jay Shaw issued a bases loaded walk to make it 10-7.
In the top of the 8th, Moore drew a lead off walk followed by a single from Wass. Runners advanced to 2nd and 3rd on a wild pitch with no outs. Kyle Overstreet would plate both runners on an RBI double to give Bama the 12-7 lead. Overstreet sent it one more off of an RBI single from Hughston. White then singled with the bases loaded to make the score 15-7 as Goodson and Hughston would cross the plate. The Gamecocks would make a push in the bottom of the 9th scoring 3 runs but it wouldn’t be enough.
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