No. 18 Alabama improved to 25-15 overall and 7-11 in SEC play over the weekend after dropping two of three games against No. 1 Texas A&M.
Rain postponed Thursday’s series opener against Texas A&M and forced a Friday doubleheader. Alabama’s pitching was unable to contain the Aggies’ offense, and the Crimson Tide dropped both games on Friday.
In game one of the doubleheader, Alabama lost 10-5 to Texas A&M despite taking an early lead. The Crimson Tide scored three runs in the third inning and added two more in the fourth, establishing a 5-0 lead. However, the Aggies answered with six runs in the fifth inning, part of their 10 unanswered runs to secure the victory. Chris Cortez earned the win for the Aggies, and Shane Sdao got his second save of the season by pitching the final 3.2 innings. Tyler Fay took the loss for Alabama.
Texas A&M kept the momentum from the first game and carried it over to the second game, defeating Alabama 18-9. The Aggies started out strong with an eight-run second inning. Alabama responded with a four-run second, but Texas A&M scored three in the fourth and two more in the fifth. Alabama added three runs in the fifth, but Texas A&M answered with three in the seventh. Alabama scored two more in the eighth with a home run from Justin Lebron, but Texas A&M scored two in the ninth to secure an 18-9 victory. Brock Peery earned the win for Texas A&M, while Ben Hess took the loss for Alabama.
"It was a tough day,” said Alabama head coach Rob Vaughn. “I told our boys that we could sit and break down all of the good and bad, but none of that matters now. All that matters is how we show up tomorrow, really what our mindset is, what our focus is and what our intensity looks like. They fought hard in the second game when a lot of teams wouldn't; that's the makeup of these kids. We have to keep growing and get better tomorrow."
Alabama salvaged the weekend, avoiding the sweep with a 10-9 win in the series finale.
Saturday's series finale featured one tie and three lead changes. Alabama took an early lead by scoring five runs in the second inning. The Aggies responded with two runs in the top of the third, while Alabama added one more in the bottom half. Texas A&M then scored three runs in the fourth inning, but Alabama countered with one run in the fifth, making the score 7-5 in favor of Alabama going into the sixth inning.
In the sixth inning, the Aggies took their first lead of the game with three runs. However, their lead was short-lived as Alabama scored one run in the sixth, tying the game 8-8. In the seventh inning, Texas A&M scored one run to regain the lead. Once again, Alabama responded with a two-run inning, taking a 10-9 lead, which would stand as the final score. The Tide's two runs in the seventh came from a bases-loaded one-out single by Bryce Eblin.
Alton Davis earned the win after pitching the final three and a third innings, allowing just one earned run.
Mac Guscette led the Crimson Tide offense by going 2-for-3 with a grand slam and five RBI.
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