Alabama Doubles Up Wright State in Series Opener, 8-4

A one-hit, six-inning start for Tyler Ras helped put the Crimson Tide ahead early en route to another win at The Joe

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — No. 22 Alabama baseball didn't have to worry about its starting pitching on Friday night as a one-hit, six inning performance by Tyler Ras boosted the Crimson Tide past the Wright State Raiders, 8-4.

"Really good win for us today," Crimson Tide coach Brad Bohannon said. "A lot of good things. Never perfect, but we played really well for eight-and-a-half innings today."

On Wednesday, Bohannon announced that Friday starter Connor Prielipp would be out due to an undisclosed medical condition. In his place, junior right-hander Ras was handed the ball.

In six innings, Ras allowed one hit — a home run in the top of the second by senior left fielder Alex Alders. He also walked two batters and struck out five on the night.

"It all started with Tyler Ras on the mound," Bohannon said. "Wow what a first inning. It was a great lesson to our young pitchers of how even when you're on pitching or you're on defense you can create momentum for the offense. 

"Ras, he just came out [with] awesome body language, presence, attacking the strike zone with his fastball."

Meanwhile, Alabama's bats were considerably more successful in the early innings. A leadoff home run in the bottom of the first for sophomore second baseman Peyton Wilson set the early offensive tone.

Alabama added two runs in the second and three in the fourth. Two of the Alabama fourth-inning runs came off of home runs by sophomore third baseman Zane Denton and junior left fielder T.J. Reeves, to put the Crimson Tide up 6-1.

Alabama (5-1) added another run in the fifth, but Wright State added three runs in the top of the seventh against Crimson Tide relievers freshman Grayson Hitt and senior Brock Guffey to give Alabama little scare.

A sacrifice fly by freshman center fielder Caden Rose in the seventh had the Crimson Tide double up the Raiders, 8-4. Wright State was unable to form another rally, but those were the final numbers on the scoreboard.

Rose led the day for the Crimson Tide hitters with three RBIs, batting 2-for-3 with a double. Sophomore right fielder Will Hamiter earned three runs and an RBI, batting 2-for-5 with two doubles.

Ras (1-0) picked up his first win of the season while Wright State sophomore starter Sam Wirsing (0-1) was saddled with the loss.

"As we get deeper into the season I think we'll just clean things up," Ras said. "We're only five games in. We're learning what type of team we are and I think we'll start to learn that more and more as we keep playing and I think over time we'll be fine.

"We got a good club, good guys and I think we're gonna play really well."

Alabama and Wright State will be back at it in Sewell-Thomas Stadium on Saturday. The teams were originally scheduled for a game on Saturday and Sunday, but due to poor weather to be expected on Sunday the change was made for a doubleheader on Saturday (1 p.m. CT, SEC Network+).