🏈 Tide wins Saturday's game 4-3, Castillo on the mound to win series.

[TerryP]

Turnbull on Fri, Kamplain on Sat, Castillo on Sunday.






[TABLE="width: 100%"]
<tbody>[TR="bgcolor: #d1d1d1"]
[TD="class: row-text"]02/14/14[/TD]
[TD="class: row-text"]vs. Saint Louis[/TD]
[TD="class: row-text"]Tuscaloosa, Ala.[/TD]
[TD="class: row-text"]6:05 p.m. CT[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #d1d1d1"]
[TD="class: row-text"]02/15/14[/TD]
[TD="class: row-text"]vs. Saint Louis[/TD]
[TD="class: row-text"]Tuscaloosa, Ala.[/TD]
[TD="class: row-text"]2:05 p.m. CT[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: tr-selected, bgcolor: #d1d1d1"]
[TD="class: row-text"]02/16/14[/TD]
[TD="class: row-text"]vs. Saint Louis[/TD]
[TD="class: row-text"]Tuscaloosa, Ala.[/TD]
[TD="class: row-text"]1:05 p.m. CT[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]

 

[bamafan4ever]

That's hard core opening against the Cardinals!! :icon_eek::bluebiggrin:

 

[bamaraider]

Looking forward to it. Should have a good team, return 4 pitchers and a 21 total players including the freshman duo last year at short stop and second base, Overstreet and Mikey White. Defense should be good, had 80 double plays turned last year. Question will be hitting. I can't find any stats on the hitting, but every time I heard them on the radio with Stewart, always left men on base and couldn't take advantage of opportunities (LSU SEC Tournament).

Here's something on ST Louis though from RollTide.com

The Saint Louis Billikens enter the 2014 season with 16 returning letterwinners from a team that posted a 41-21 record in 2013. After winning the Atlantic 10 championship with a 17-7 record, the Billikens were selected to the NCAA Columbia Regional. SLU is receiving votes in the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll. Head Coach Darin Hendrickson is entering his seventh season as the head coach at SLU, posting a record of 198-148. SLU returns the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year in first baseman Mike Vigliarolo, who hit .341 with eight home runs and 42 RBI last season. Shortstop Alec Sole was a second team Atlantic 10 selection after hitting .326 with 34 RBI and 10 stolen bases last season. On the mound, RHP Clay Smith returns after earning second team All-Atlantic 10 honors with an 8-3 record and a 3.77 ERA in 98 innings pitched in 2013. RHP Matt Eckelman was selected to the 2013 Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team after posting a 6-1 record with a 1.64 ERA in 27 appearances as a freshman.

 

[bamaraider]

Don't mind if we use this as the game-thread do you?

 

[PhillyGirl]

That's hard core opening against the Cardinals!! :icon_eek::bluebiggrin:

LOL I thought the same thing for a quick second .. I've got the MLB on my mind ..

St. Louis U. has a weird mascot .. little gremlin thing called a Billiken.

Hope we cream 'em.

 

[BAMANEWSBOT]

No. 21 Alabama Baseball Falls to Saint Louis in Season Opener, 2-1

After a rain delay that lasted one hour and 41 minutes, the No. 21-ranked Alabama baseball team fell to the Saint Louis Billikens, 2-1, in their 2014 season opener.

Read More Here...

 

[TerryP]

These early outings against teams you wouldn't expect (based on their name/location/division) to win intrigues me each year. 10 ranked teams fell today including Virginia, Miss. St, UCLA, Clemson, Kansas St, Arizona St., UL Lafayette, Texas, & Oklahoma.

 

[bamaraider]

Not that bad of a loss. St Louis has a helluva pitcher in Bates. Still leaving too many men on base!! This was the problem last year, we never could get our guys in or get a sacrifice in to get the bases moving.

Oh well, that is weird [MENTION=12209]TerryP[/MENTION] about the top 10 teams losing.

 

[bamaraider]

Won 4-3 today. They got out to a 3-0 lead on the 1st and never scored again. Win tomorrow will give us the series.

 

[bamaraider]

Read up on the Tides win from last night.

If good fortune was at Wade Wass' side on Saturday, it was certainly long overdue.Alabama's catcher brought home the game-tying and game-winning runs, the latter coming on a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth as the No. 21 Crimson Tide topped Saint Louis 4-3.
The third batter to the plate in Alabama's two-out, ninth-inning rally, Wass laced a single to left. Shortstop Mikey White rounded third base and beat a close throw at the plate to clinch the Crimson Tide's first win of 2014 and send an impressive turnout of 3,242 at Sewell-Thomas Stadium home with dramatics.
"Awesome," a smiling Wass said of his game winner. "A long time coming."
Before Saturday, Wass' time in Tuscaloosa had been defined by injuries. In 2013, his first season at UA, Wass broke his right ankle in a scrimmage and missed the first four weeks. Once he was cleared to return, March 15 against Tennessee, he stepped in to pinch hit. In his first at bat, he swung and broke his hand.
Before Friday night's season opener, that would serve as Wass' only competitive at bat since he finished the 2012 season at Meridian (Miss.) Community College, a span of 21 months.
"It's big for us to have that guy who can hit in the DH (spot) or can catch for us and he can give us a good (at bat) every time," White said. "After what he went through last year it's big for him too. He's a really good guy and you like to see him do well." Seemingly bleeding over from a 2-1 loss in the season opener, Alabama's start was sluggish.
Starting pitcher Justin Kamplain spotted Saint Louis three runs on three hits in the first inning including a two-run home run from defending Atlantic 10 Hitter of the Year Mike Vigliarolo.
Kamplain found his groove after that, though, giving up just one hit in the next four innings. He struck out four of the last six batters he faced. While Kamplain leveled out, the Crimson Tide chipped away with two runs in the third inning: No. 9 hitter Daniel Cucjen delivered his first career home run off the foul pole in left field and White tripled and scored on Ben Moore's sacrifice fly to get it to 3-2.
Then came Wass' magic.
In the fifth, Wass smashed a two-out double down the left field line, plating Moore to tie it at 3-3.
Wass delivered on defense, too. Still tied 3-3 with a man on and none out for Saint Louis in the eighth and a true freshman, Nick Eicholtz, in his third inning of relief for Alabama, Wass blocked a low pitch, gathered it and threw out the runner trying to advance to second. Eicholtz retired the next two hitters to polish off three scoreless frames.
Next up was Wass' game winner.
"I thought that he gave some really good at bats all day, I thought he did a really nice job behind the plate for us," Alabama coach Mitch Gaspard said. Wass finished 2-for-3 with the two RBI and two walks. "He's a good offensive player, but this is his second game in basically two years so it's going to take some time for him to get his rhythm down. But he had some real quality at bats today."
Freshman Thomas Burrows earned the win with a scoreless ninth inning. Damian Rivera got the loss in 3.2 innings of relief.
And for Wass? He was given a new at bat to define his young UA career.
- See more at: http://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1610246#sthash.moWOAA7p.dpuf

 

[bamaraider]

Won 9-3 today. :icon_elephant: