Behind Alabama’s first triple play in nearly 15 years, right-hander Spencer Turnbull out-dueled No. 20 Kentucky’s A.J. Reed to lift the Crimson Tide to a 3-0 victory Friday night at Sewell-Thomas Stadium to open Southeastern Conference play.
Alabama (11-5) and Kentucky (13-5) return to The Joe on Saturday for a doubleheader, with first pitch scheduled for 12:35 p.m. CT. Game two will begin 45 minutes after the completion of game one.
“Welcome to the SEC,” Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard said. “That is a typical Friday night game with two big horses on the mound. Both guys pitched extremely well. Turnbull was throwing the ball really well. He had to fight a little tonight, his command was not quite as good as it has been. He really showed up as a competitor tonight. Reed on the other side was equally as good.”
After allowing one hit in the opening five frames, Turnbull (2-1) surrendered hits to Kyle Barrett and Austin Cousino and a walk to Max Kuhn to load the bases with no outs in the sixth. With A.J. Reed at-bat,Mikey White snagged a line drive and tossed it to Kyle Overstreet at second, who threw to Chance Vincent at third to complete the triple play, preserving Alabama’s 1-0 lead.
The Tide’s last triple play came on May 30, 1999, as the Tide turned three in an NCAA Tournament victory over Southern Mississippi.
Against a Kentucky team that entered the game leading the nation in hits and runs scored, Turnbull held the Wildcats to four hits, with three strikeouts and five walks in 7.1 scoreless innings. Turnbull has a 14.1 inning scoreless streak, and has gone 23.1 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run. He has a 0.31 ERA in five starts, while allowing just one earned run in 29.0 innings.
Thomas Burrows picked up his first career save, striking out two in 1.2 unblemished innings to close out the game.
Reed (3-1) suffered his first loss of the season after going seven innings, giving up three runs on four hits and four walks with six strikeouts.
Will Haynie led the Alabama offense going 2-for-3 with a solo home run, two RBI and a run scored. Wade Wass had a double, his team-leading sixth of the season, and scored a run. Casey Hughston stroked the first career double to account for the Tide’s other hit.
“We had some good fortune on our side as well,” Gaspard said. “We had a check swing to score a run and a triple play. We defended really well, Overstreet had a good play. We did the things you have to do to win the game on Friday night, which is always a challenge in this league.”
The first run of the game came in the second when Haynie drove in a run on a line drive to right field to drive in Wass who double to open the inning. The Tide added a pair of insurance runs in the eighth inning, one coming on Haynie’s solo shot to lead off the inning. Later in the inning, Chance Vincent scored on a wild pitch to cap the scoring at 3-0.
Recap Courtesy of UA Media Relations