Geoffrey Bramblett threw a complete-game shutout to lead the Alabama Crimson Tide to a 6-0 victory over the Georgia Southern Eagles on Sunday afternoon from Dick Howser Stadium. Following the win, Alabama will play the Kennesaw State Owls tonight at 4 p.m. CT. Alabama will need to defeat the Owls twice to win the Tallahassee Regional.
Geoffrey Bramblett (5-2) picked up his first career post season win by posting his first career complete game. Along the way, Bramblett allowed just two hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. At one point during the game, Bramblett retired 14 straight batters and 18 of the first 19 batters he faced in the game.
Alabama collected nine hits as Ben Moore led the way with a 3-for-3 day that included two doubles, three RBI, a walk and a run scored. Mikey White was 1-for-3 with a double and two runs scored and Georgie Salemwas 1-for-4 with an RBI. Wade Wass, Austen Smith, Kyle Overstreet and Casey Hughston all singled in the game and Chance Vincent had an RBI and scored a run.
Georgia Southern used a total of six pitchers, as starting pitcher Will Jackson (3-3) took the loss after allowing three runs on two hits with two walks and two strikeouts in 2.1 innings. Five GSU relievers gave up three runs on seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
In the third inning, Alabama turned a pair of walks in to a run. After Vincent walked to lead off the inning and White followed with a one-out walk, Salem singled to right center to drive in Vincent for the first run of the game. After the Eagles made a pitching change, Moore doubled to the left field corner on the first pitch by Matt McCall to put the Tide ahead 3-0 after three innings.
The Tide added to their lead in the bottom of the fifth, getting a pair of doubles by White and Moore off reliever Jason Richman to make the score 4-0. White had a one-out double down the line in right field, before Moore found the right center field gap with two outs to drive in his third RBI of the game.
Georgia Southern threated in the seventh, putting runners on the corners with one out thanks to a pair of walks and a wild pitch. Garren Palmer narrowly missed a double, but struck out before Hunter Thomas lined out to shortstop to end the threat.
Bama padded its lead in the eighth by scoring twice off three Eagles’ pitchers. After Moore walked and moved to third on a single by Wass, a wild pitch by GSU reliever Tripp Sheppard allowed Moore to score. Smith followed with a walk and Overstreet singled to load the bases with no outs. After a pitching change, Hughston reached on a fielder’s choice, but Wass was cut down at the plate for the first out of the inning. After Vincent walked to push in the second run of the inning, Avery Fagan struck out William Elliott and White to prevent any more runs from scoring.
Recap and Feature Image Courtesy Of UA Media Relations; Article Image from My Crimson Chaos