Alabama Baseball Drops 11-Inning Thriller in Heartbreaking Fashion to Top-Seeded Florida

The Crimson Tide took a three-run lead into the bottom of the 11th inning — but the Gators fought back and won after a walk-off three-run shot from BT Riopelle.

Austin Hannon | May 24, 2023

HOOVER, Ala. — The agony of defeat.

The Alabama Crimson Tide took an early punch from No. 1 seed Florida. The Crimson Tide (39-18, 16-14 SEC) fought and fought until it couldn’t anymore — and even with a three-run lead in extra innings, it eventually fell.

The Gators (43-13, 20-10 SEC) defeated Alabama 7-6 in 11 innings in what was one of the best college baseball games of the year.

But even in the best games, somebody has to lose — and in this case, it was the Crimson Tide that came up a run short on Wednesday night at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.

Nine innings wasn’t enough. Alabama led 6-3 going into the bottom of the 11th — but once again, the sport of baseball showed that no lead is ever safe — especially against one of the best teams in the country.

Florida stacked together three singles to begin the inning — and then BT Riopelle stepped to the plate.

Riopelle drove an 0-2 pitch soaring over the wall in deep center field to send the Gators on to the next round of the SEC tournament.

"I thought it was a really good ballgame by two really good teams," interim head coach Jason Jackson said. "That's kind of what the postseason play is all about. That's what the SEC tournament is all about. That's what we all expect to see when we come here. It's a tough loss. We took a lead into that last inning, and Alton [Davis II] has been great for us all year. You've got to give them some credit, they had some great at-bats."

For the Crimson Tide, the tears will need to dry quickly. Alabama will be back in action in the loser’s bracket portion of the field on Thursday afternoon against No. 5 seed Auburn.

"You've just got to flush it, take what you can from it, learn from it," Tommy Seidl said. "And then just hydrate, get sleep, and get ready to go tomorrow."

"Baseball is a game of winning moments, and we won the moment in the top of the [11th], and they got us back in the bottom. It's just a matter of staying [as] even-keeled as you can throughout those moments — that will just help you win those moments in the future."

The good news for the Crimson Tide? It defeated the Tigers in a series earlier this season.

"You know, basically what I told them was, 'Hey, man, this hurts, and it's supposed to hurt,'" Jackson said. "You invest that much into a game, and it was an emotional game and it was a very well-played game — but this was supposed to hurt. That's a kick in the gut. So it's okay to be pissed. You should be pissed."

"But when we wake up tomorrow, that score resets to 0-0, and we've got to bring it to the ballpark. We have to be ready to go. We have to be ready to bring it when we get here tomorrow."

A late night turns into an early afternoon for Alabama — which will begin play at approximately 1 p.m. CT on Thursday. With another loss, the time in Hoover will come to an end — with a win, the Crimson Tide will continue to play on.

See Also: