Alabama Baseball Takes Two From Mississippi Valley State

Alabama baseball took both games of a doubleheader slate from Mississippi Valley State on Tuesday at Hoover Met. The Tide improves to 22-18 for the season.

Game One: Alabama 3, Mississippi Valley State 1

Tide starting pitcher Nick Eicholtz (3-0) had an impressive outing, going 7 innings to get the win. He only gave up the one earned run on three hits while striking out five and walking two. Ray Castillo entered for two innings of relief and picked up his fourth save, allowing no runs or no hits, while fanning one and walking one. Tyler Case (3-7) carries the loss for the Delta Devils.

The Tide jumped out to the quick start, taking the early lead after the first inning. Alabama would set things up with runners at the corners after Chandler Avant got the home half going with a lead off double which was followed by a single from Mikey White. A failed pick-off attempt allowed Avant to score. The second run came on a ground out to shortstop from Kyle Overstreet.

Mississippi Valley State would get on the board during the third inning on some two-out action. Edward Cox stood in scoring position at second for the Delta Devils after he reached on a walk and stole second. Quentin McDonald then singled to right field to make the score 2-1 with Alabama still holding the lead.

Alabama extended their lead an inning later to what would be the final score. With the bases loaded with just one away, a fielder’s choice pushed Overstreet across the plate to give the Tide the 3-1 lead.

Game Two: Alabama 16, Mississippi Valley State 5

Will Carter got the win for the Tide, going five innings. The Delta Devils grabbed three runs off of him on eight hits. Carter struck out six and gave up no walks.

Alabama followed the script of scoring early in game one but added one other thing to game two: score often.

During the first two innings, the Tide posted 10 runs and never looked back the rest of the game.

The Tide started off the first getting the lead off man aboard with a walk and had two on when Wilhite was hit by a pitch during the next at bat. Mikey White drove in two runs with an RBI triple to right center field. Cody Henry plated another run with an RBI single up the middle. Casey Hughston kept the train moving with the second RBI triple of the inning to give Alabama the 4-0 lead. Alabama pushed their lead to 7-0 before everything was said and done with RBI singles from Salem and Vincent as well one run from Overstreet on an errant throw to second on Salem’s stolen base attempt.

Alabama added three more runs in the next inning to extend their lead to 10-0. Henry got on board with a one out double and scored when Overstreet reached on an error. Will Haynie’s RBI single brought one run across the dish and the Delta Devils walked in third run of the frame.

Two singles and a double in the third posted the first runs of the game for Mississippi Valley State. The Delta Devils added two more runs later in the game.

Salem tacked on another run in the fourth, scoring on a wild pitch after leading off with a triple.

Back to back, one out walks in the fifth followed by an Overstreet single pushed the score to 12-0. Salem followed that with another triple, this time sending two home to score.

With the bases loaded in the eight, Daniel Cujen’s opposite field single added two more runs to reach the final tally of 16-5.

The Tide travels to Oxford this weekend for a three-game set beginning on Friday with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m. CT.