Alabama Wins Capital City Classic Against Auburn 4-3
By Chris Hale
Alabama relief pitcher Thomas Burrows was named the 2014 MAX Capital City Classic Most Valuable player after throwing three scoreless innings to close out the Crimson Tide’s 4-3 win over the Auburn Tigers on Wednesday night from Riverwalk Stadium.
With two outs and runners on the corners, the Tide (6-5) scored the game-winning run in the top of the ninth when Auburn (6-6) third baseman Connor Short made a high throw to first base on a soft ground ball off the bat of Ben Moore, which allowed Austen Smith to score the go ahead run.
After punching out the first hitting in the bottom of the ninth, Burrows walked Jordan Ebert, before getting Damon Haecker and Anfernee Grier to ground out to end the game. Burrows (2-0) earned the win after recording the final nine outs for Alabama without allowing a hit while striking out three and walking one batter.
Offensively, Alabama collected 11 hits off three Auburn pitchers, while three Crimson Tide pitchers limited the Tigers to three hits in the game. UA starter Nick Eicholtz threw five innings, allowing two runs on two hits with three walks and a strikeout. Taylor Guilbeau allowed a run on one hit with a walk in one inning.
Georgie Salem was 2-for-5 with a run scored and Mikey White, Kyle Overstreet and Will Haynie had two hits each. Haynie had an RBI single in Alabama’s two-run fourth inning and Casey Hughston, who had three stellar players in left field, was 1-for-4 with an RBI.
Auburn’s starting pitcher Justin Camp went 6.1 innings, allowing three runs on nine hits with a walk and four strikeouts. Trey Cochran-Gill (1-0) took the loss after allowing an unearned run in the ninth. Cochran-Gill went 2.1 innings with a walk and a strikeout.
Auburn took a 2-0 lead on a two-out, third-inning home run by Dan Glevenyak off Eicholtz. The Tide answered in the top of the fourth inning, getting RBI singles by Hughston and Haynie to even the score at 2-2.
Alabama went to the bullpen for Guilbeau top start the Auburn sixth. With one out, Glevenyak reached on a catcher’s interference and advanced to third on a failed pickoff attempt, Auburn regained the lead in the when Blake Austin drove in Glevenyak with a single through the left side, making the score 3-2 Tigers.
Alabama answered again in the next half inning, when Haynie scored from second on an RBI single to right field by White, while an error on the Auburn right fielder allowed the runners to advance to second and third. After the play, Auburn made a pitching change, going to Cochran-Gill who retired the next two hitters to keep the score tied at 3-3.
With the score tied 3-3, Burrows entered the game with a runner on first and a 2-0 count Auburn’s Damon Haecker. After Haecker moved the runner over with a sacrifice bunt, Burrows got Anfernee Grier to ground out before striking out Ryan Tella to end the game.
The Crimson Tide returns to Sewell-Thomas this weekend when they host the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils in a three-game series. The series will start on Friday night with first pitch slated for 6 p.m. CT. Game two is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT on Saturday and the series wraps up on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT.
Recap Courtesy of UA Media Relations