Alabama Baseball Breaks Late Tie, Takes Road Win Against Samford
In a game that was not the most well-pitched on either side, Alabama baseball completed a season sweep over the Samford Bulldogs with an 11-7 road win in Homewood on Tuesday night. The Crimson Tide has beaten Samford 11 straight times.
The game was tied 7-7 going into the eighth inning. Alabama shortstop Justin Lebron scored on a wild pitch in the frame, followed by a two-RBI single from first baseman Will Hodo with the bases loaded. Kade Snell singled in Lebron in the top of the ninth for the game’s final run.
“A good win against a very offensive team on the road,” Alabama coach Rob Vaughn said. “We traded blows for a while but got some huge hits and great bullpen performances late. Just a good team win.”
Crimson Tide starting pitcher Bobby Alcock was fairly effective during last week’s midweek against UAB, but only went one inning on Tuesday, leaving the contest in the second. Samford (22-18) sent Brooks Rice to the mound, the same starter from the April 1 game in Tuscaloosa (Alabama won 11-9).
Rice was charged with four earned runs. The Crimson Tide (32-10) scored two runs in the first on just one hit thanks to miscues in the field by Samford. Center fielder Richie Bonomolo Jr.’s RBI single was the hit; Snell scored on a wild pitch.
Reigning SoCon Player of the Week Jeffrey Ince slashed the deficit in half with a leadoff home run against Alcock in the first. The next two runs of the game went to No. 18 Alabama, both in the second inning: Hodo hit a solo home run (also to lead off the frame) and Lebron hit an RBI single.
Samford cleanup hitter Jake Souders took Aeden Finateri out of the ballpark for a two-run blast in the bottom of the third, again cutting the Bulldogs’ deficit to a run. Center fielder Michael Gupton, Samford’s offensive star of the game, tied things up with a run-scoring double two batters later.
Bonomolo singled right fielder Bryce Fowler home in the top of the fourth. Staton padded the lead with a two-run home run of his own in the next inning, once again doing damage to his old team. That three-run lead did not even last until the sixth. Gupton collected two RBIs on a single to center then scored on a pinch-hit double by Gatlin Pitts that tied the game at seven.
