Alabama baseball used a six-run fifth to clinch an 8-6 win over fifth-ranked Arkansas on Friday night at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
rolltide.com
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama baseball used a six-run fifth to clinch an 8-6 win over fifth-ranked Arkansas on Friday night at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The victory evens the series up at one game apiece and moves the Crimson Tide to 28-25 overall and 11-17 in Southeastern Conference play.
The six-run fifth came with the Tide trailing 4-1, as Arkansas was able to post single tallies in the second and fourth to go with a two-spot in the fifth. Alabama's first run came in fourth before the six in the fifth to give the Crimson Tide a 7-4 advantage after five full. The Tide added one more in the sixth on a solo home run from
Andrew Pinckney with the Hogs battling for two in the seventh for the eventual 8-6 final.
All nine Crimson Tide starters reached base on Friday with seven of the nine recording at least one hit, including four two-hit efforts from
William Hamiter,
Drew Williamson,
Dominic Tamez and
Owen Diodati. Diodati matched Pinckney for the team-high mark for RBI with two while Williamson tied Pinckney for the team lead in runs at two apiece.
Jacob McNairy (6-2) picked up his team-leading sixth win of the season thanks to a solid start on 'Senior Night'. The right-hander allowed four runs on six hits and three walks with a career-high tying seven strikeouts in 5.0 innings of work. McNairy turned the ball over to his bullpen with
Brock Guffey and
Dylan Ray combining to keep the Hogs scoreless over the final 2.1 frames. Ray picked up his sixth save of the season thanks to a game-ending strikeout.
"This was a pretty complete effort for us.
Jacob McNairy gave us a great start and all the guys – (Ben) Hess, (Brock) Guffey and (
Dylan Ray) – were great out of the bullpen. It was good to see us put up a six-spot; we haven't done that much this year. We had seven of the nine starters get a hit and multiple guys with two-hit games. It was a really good effort tonight, and I'm happy for our kids. Obviously, this clinches Hoover. I know that's not the ultimate goal for our team, but it is an awesome event. I can't wait to get over there next week, but before that, hopefully we can win a series over a really good team to take some momentum with us to the Tournament."
