No. 7 seed Alabama baseball outslugged Oklahoma State 9-7 to punch its ticket to the Super Regionals for the first time since 2023.
The Crimson Tide hit three home runs Sunday night, including a game-winning three-run home run from Brady Neal in the 11th inning.
Alabama jumped off to an early 4-0 lead, scoring one in the second by way of a Brennan Holt single and tacking on three in the third inning. Oklahoma State matched the Crimson Tide’s three runs in the third with three of their own to cut the lead to one.
Both teams traded runs in the fifth and sixth innings before back-to-back home runs from the Cowboys in the seventh to take their first lead of the game. Alabama quickly responded with a monster game-tying home run from Eric Hines to tie the game 6-6 in the eighth inning.
The game remained knotted up until the 11th inning when Neal broke the gridlock with a three-run home run. The Cowboys made things interesting in the bottom half of the inning by putting a run across the board and loading the bases with two outs before Hagan Banks struck out the final batter to seal the victory.
Myles Upchurch started on the mound for Alabama and pitched well enough to win, but was handed a no-decision. Upchurch struck out nine in six innings of work, allowing four runs on five hits before exiting with a one-run lead. In the ninth inning, Banks took the mound and pitched the final three innings to earn the victory. Banks struck out six and allowed one run on five hits.
Vines led the Crimson Tide with three hits, including his game-tying home run in the eighth inning. Neal finished the night with four RBI, and his lone hit on the night was the game-winning three-run home run in the 11th.
Alabama will host the winner of the Tallahassee Regional in a best-of-three Super Regional next weekend.
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