Alabama Baseball's Bats Heat Up to Blow Out Binghamton

The Crimson Tide scored early and often to roll to a 14-2 victory and secure a series win over the Bearcats.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Binghamton brought the chilly northern weather down to Tuscaloosa this weekend. However, through two games, Alabama has made sure that’s the only thing that has made its visitors from New York feel at home.

The Crimson Tide wasted no time burying the Bearcats on Saturday, using a five-run first inning to cruise to a 14-2 victory. The win locked up the weekend series for Alabama (11-5) after it beat Binghamton (3-8) 9-3 on Friday. The Crimson Tide will look to finish out the sweep on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT.

Alabama practically put the game away before recording its first out at the plate. Jim Jarvis led off the bottom of the first with a triple to center and was brought in by an RBI single from Tommy Seidl. Following an infield single from Zane Denton, Drew Williamson blasted a three-run shot to right to bust the game open before the crowd inside Sewell-Thomas Stadium could finish its first hotdog. Alabama added a solo home run from Eric Foggo later in the inning to build a 5-0 lead after one frame. 

Following a disappointing loss to North Alabama on Wednesday, the Crimson Tide has jumped on Binghampton early in both games this weekend, scoring a combined eight first-inning runs in the two wins. 

"I think the message from the team from the very beginning is we're not going flinch whenever adversity comes," Williamson said. "With us having some struggles early, I think we had a chance to truly display that. You know, can you bring the same level of intent and focus when things aren't going your way. If you're able to do that and stay consistent throughout the season, eventually you're going to click, and we're going to get on a roll. I think that's what we did today."

Saturday's first-inning explosion was all the offense starting pitcher Antoine Jean (1-1) needed as the junior recorded a quality start, allowing one earned run on three hits while striking out four batters over six innings. 

"Antoine was really sharp, especially early," Alabama head coach Brad Bohannon said. "It can be hard when you have a big inning offensively to go back out. We need to build up Antoine's pitch count, so it's not ideal to sit as long as he did, especially on a day like today. ... It's kind of a resounding them like we talked about with Garrett McMillan yesterday, just doing a really good job of throwing strikes with all three of their pitches and commanding the ball." 

Alabama’s bats continued to pour it on in the bottom of the fourth as it sent 14 batters to the plate, piling up eight runs on four hits and an error. Alabama’s 14 runs are its most since it recorded a 16-1 victory over Arkansas to open up SEC play last season.

Following its weekend series against Binghampton, the Crimson Tide will travel to Southern Miss on Tuesday before beginning conference play with a home series against No. 11 Florida. 

“We’re definitely getting better which is important with league play right next weekend,” Bohannon said. “There’s still plenty of things we need to get better at. The biggest thing is just consistency. We’ve had four or five games this year where we looked really, really good, like a legit top-10 [top] 15 team. Then we’ve had two or three days where we could have lost to some really good high school teams.

“I think that’s pretty common in college baseball and any sport where you deal with college kids. We’ve got to get more consistent in every part of the game. We put two really good games back-to-back, and hopefully, we can do it again tomorrow and have a complete weekend.” 

Williamson’s home run was his third of the season but first in 11 games. The senior first baseman finished the game 2-for-4 with four RBIs. Denton also had a big day, going 2-for-3 with a pair of walks and two RBIs.

Seidl continued his torrid start to the season, going 3-for-5 with two RBIs. He went 3-for-4 during the series opener against Binghamton on Friday. The Harvard transfer is batting .464 with 11 RBIs through 14 games this season.

"Tommy's doing a great job," Bohannon said. "He brings tremendous energy, and he's a really hard worker, really competitive kid. ... Sometimes when guys get going good, they try to add to it, they try to do more and try to hit the ball even harder. He's just doing a good job of staying with his game and being who is and not trying to do more, so hopefully, he can continue to do that."

One of Alabama’s only setbacks on the afternoon came in the bottom of the third when second baseman Caden Rose tweaked his hamstring while running to first on a bloop single to left. Rose was lifted for pinch-runner Will Portera, who remained in the game at second base.

"He's had a hamstring issue that he injured a couple of weeks ago, and it got better," Bohannon said of Rose. "He tweaked it again, and I don't really have an update of if it's a minor tweak or an average tweak or a big tweak, but it's a hamstring issue."

Rose finished the game 2-for-2 with a double and the single. The sophomore is batting .310 through 15 games this season.