| BSB/SB ⚾ Bama splits Sat DH with Gators, lose series 2-1

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

SEC play begins tonight in Gainesville... a tough series right out of the gate. Heading into conference play, Bama and UF lead the SEC in team BA, .349 and .348 respectively. On the pitching side, the Tide staff is sporting a 3.43 ERA (mid pack in SEC)... UF has a 4.61. One stat that kind of stands out with this Bama team heading into tonight's game... Last year, the Tide hit 62 HR's all year. So far this season, they've already hit 39... I'm not going to discount the possibility of a juiced up ball based on what I've seen from several teams, but regardless, the power numbers are much more positive than they have been for the Tide. Hopefully the hot bats carry over into league play and the starting pitching can find their stride now that they have some innings on their arms. Gonna be a tough series though...

 

[rick4bama]

Roll Tide!!

 

[TerryP]

Looks like this kind of Thursday night (coincidently, not too off base.)

 

[rick4bama]

Looks like this kind of Thursday night (coincidently, not too off base.)

I don't know how anyone can watch that many games and keep it straight?

 

[TerryP]

I don't know how anyone can watch that many games and keep it straight?

If you can't listen out of one ear, watch something out of one eye, while working on two other projects ... how the hell are you still married?

 

[PurlJam]

If you can't listen out of one ear, watch something out of one eye, while working on two other projects ... how the hell are you still married?

Sign language.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Gators win 3-0... UF starting pitcher Brandon Sproat was filthy... gave up just 1 hit with 11 K's in the complete game shutout. Dude was throwing it 99 and mixing in a change that would make Tim Lincecum blush. Not sure why yet, but Bama started Hagan Banks who has been a reliever all year... not sure if there is an injury or maybe he's bumping the rotation a day and not throwing McNairy on Saturday? I don't know. Anyway, Banks did really well but could only go 3.1 IP. Hunter Furtado relieved him, and I don't want to run down any Bama players, but that surprised me... he throws hard, but teams sit on his FB because there's little to no movement. He ended up giving up 3 runs in 4.2 innings... which still wasn't too bad considering what was asked of him. Bohannon did finally move Jarvis back to the top of the order and drop Shelton... was happy to see that, but it didn't matter tonight... nothing would have.

Game 2 tomorrow at 5:30...

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Schedule changed to a DH today, game 1 start time is now 2:30.

 

[bama alum]

Just lost in the 9th, 8 - 7, on a bloop infield single... Oyy!

Edit* Bama baseball Twitter calls it a swinging bunt.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Bama let that one slip away… Hess didn't pitch bad overall, but made a couple of bad pitches at the wrong times... and UF made him pay for them with 3 HR's. Riley Quick threw pretty well in relief… easy to see he has a bright future as a starter. Williamson supplied most of the big hits, but Shelton ended his HR drought with a solo shot for #11. Pinckney is struggling, need to get him going again.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Tide salvages the final game of the series with a 6-3 win.... Tommy Seidl hit a solo shot and Caden Rose added a big 2 run HR in the 8th. Grayson Hitt started and pitched pretty well, earned the win. Kade Woods was brilliant in relief... 2.2 IP, and struck out every batter he faced (the other out was a Gator that got caught sleeping on the bases).

Next up, UAB Tues. night at 6.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

League standings after week 1. As you can see, several sweeps, including Vols getting swept by Mizzou. Kentucky comes to Tuscaloosa next, and they started off hot, sweeping MSU thanks largely to some very hot bats.

SEC East

	CONF	CONF %	OVERALL	HOME	ROAD
#16 South Carolina	3-0	1.000	20-1	15-0	4-1
Kentucky	3-0	1.000	18-2	13-1	5-1
Missouri	3-0	1.000	16-3	11-1	3-1
#6 Vanderbilt	3-0	1.000	16-5	11-3	1-0
#5 Florida	2-1	.667	18-4	16-4	2-0
#2 Tennessee	0-3	.000	15-6	14-1	0-4
Georgia	0-3	.000	13-7	10-6	2-0

SEC West

	CONF	CONF %	OVERALL	HOME	ROAD
#7 Arkansas	3-0	1.000	18-2	16-1	0-0
#1 LSU	2-1	.667	18-2	13-0	3-1
#24 Alabama	1-2	.333	17-4	14-2	3-2
#15 Texas A&M	1-2	.333	14-6	10-5	2-0
#3 Ole Miss	0-3	.000	14-6	11-2	1-4
Auburn	0-3	.000	13-6	11-3	1-3
Mississippi State	0-3	.000	13-8	9-3	0-3