Alabama Baseball Holds Off Late Surge by Xavier, 5-4

After leading the game since the bottom of the 2nd, Crimson Tide reliever Brock Guffey left three runners stranded in the top of the 9th to seal the close win for Alabama.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — While a late surge by Xavier certainly made the 3,000-plus fans at Sewell-Thomas Stadium slightly nervous on Saturday afternoon, 13 hits and five runs by Crimson Tide batters were enough to stave off a comeback, giving Alabama baseball a 5-4 win over the Musketeers.

While the Crimson Tide bats had remained mostly quiet until the 9th inning on Friday, Alabama's offense showed significant improvement on Saturday afternoon.

"Well, we made it exciting again," Alabama coach Brad Bohannon chuckled after the game. "Not by choice again. Really glad to get a win against a good team. Really glad to learn a lot of valuable lessons and still come out on top."

Saturday's game started similarly to Friday's, with Xavier shortstop Jack Housinger hitting a home run in the top of the 1st to give the Musketeers an early 1-0 lead.

Alabama was unable to respond in the bottom of the 1st, but was able to display some offensive production when its side of the second came. After Bryce Eblin flied out to center field, Caden Rose singled to get on-base. Another single by Jim Jarvis put runners on first and second with one out.

Drew Williamson then singled up the middle and advanced to second on the throw. Rose crossed the plate, while Jarvis advanced to third. The next at-bat, Dominic Tamez flied out to left field, allowing Jarvis to advance home.

"I had a lot of confidence coming into the game," Rose said. "I really contribute that to the whole team. The camaraderie we have, the mentality that we bring every single day to practice and the game, like, we're just such a tight group of guys and it didn't matter who was playing today. If I was playing — if anybody else was playing — I think the same result would have happened."

A double by Zane Denton then scored Williamson, and another single by Hamiter in turn advanced Denton across the plate. In total, Alabama scored four runs scored in the bottom of the second, giving the Crimson Tide a 4-1 lead.

The next four innings went by scoreless for both sides. In the top of the 7th, though, Xavier's Tyler Demartino hit a solo home run to left-center field, narrowing Alabama's lead to two runs.

The Musketeers added another run in the top of the 8th when Jerry Huntzinger stole third, then scored on a throwing error by Tamez on the put-out attempt. Back-to-back wild pitches and a walk by Alabama reliever Landon Green put runners at the corners for Xavier with two out, but Green was able to get out of the jam by forcing Demartino to ground out.

In the bottom of the 8th, Williamson hit a solo home run to right-center field, giving Alabama all of the insurance it needed to close out the game.

In the top of the 9th, a double by Andrew Walker set the table for the Musketeers. A wild pitch by Green advanced Walker to third, and a full-count walk put runners at the corners with nobody out.

After Green struck out Jared Cushing, an error on a fielder's choice by Eblin caused Walker to advance from home, bringing the Musketeers within one run. Up 5-4 and with runners on first and second, Green then struck out Huntzinger to bring Xavier to its final out.

Reliever Brock Guffey then entered the game, with his sole duty to pick up the final out and end the game. With Housinger as his first batter faced, Guffey appeared to hit him with his pitch, and the umpires initially sent him to first base. After Bohannon went and discussed the call with the umpires, they decided to review the call.

The call stood, and bases were loaded for Guffey. Guffey forced Luke Franzoni to ground out to second, leaving three runners stranded.

"I personally thought he leaned into it, but it didn't matter," Guffey said about his hit of Housinger. "Even if he does take his bag, I'm getting the next guy. It's just about positive affirmation to yourself and just talking yourself through the situation."

The Crimson Tide trumped the Musketeers once again, with the final score being 5-4.

"We had a lot of baserunners and had a chance I thought — after the second inning we put up that four-spot — I thought we had a couple of chances after that to create some more separation and kind of bust the game open and we didn't," Bohannon said.

Furtado (1-0) was able to pick up his first win in an Alabama jersey, while Guffey (1) earned the save. Bryce Barnett (0-1) was saddled with the loss for Xavier.

Rose led the Crimson Tide in batting on the night, tallying hits on 3-of-4 plate appearances. He also recorded one run and struck out once as well. Williamson recorded two runs and two RBI while batting 2-of-5, including the only home run of the game for Alabama.

With the win, Alabama improves to 2-0 on the season. Xavier falls to 0-2 with the loss.

The Crimson Tide and the Musketeers will face each other one final time on Sunday afternoon (1 p.m. CT, SEC Network+).

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