Alabama Baseball Falls 6-3 on Senior Day Against LSU

LSU evened the weekend series against Alabama by winning 6-3 on the Crimson Tide's Senior Day.

The Alabama baseball team in a game against LSU. / Alabama Athletics

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— The Alabama baseball team couldn't follow Friday's thrilling comeback win against LSU with a series clincher on Senior Day. Instead, the Tigers got to the Crimson Tide's bullpen and evened up the three-game set with a 6-3 win at Sewell-Thomas Stadium on Saturday.

Former Crimson Tide pitching standout Luke Holman returned to his old stomping grounds and picked up his 100th strikeout of the season by sitting down former teammate Bryce Eblin in the sixth inning. He finished with 5.2 innings pitched and two runs, neither of which came on balls hit out of the infield.

"That's what makes Luke Holman Luke Holman," Alabama head coach Rob Vaughn said. "He does a good job of minimizing innings."

Alabama (31-19, 11-15 SEC) got on the board first in the opening inning, when Kade Snell recorded an RBI groundout with the bases juiced. The potential for a bigger inning did not materialize, as Holman worked out of the spot. LSU then took the lead off Crimson Tide starter Zane Adams with a two-run double by leadoff man Tommy White. That came in the top of the second, giving Alabama no time to sit on its advantage.

Right fielder William Hamiter, starting in front of the Alabama student section for the second straight game (and fifth overall), got the second run back in the bottom of the fourth. He tied the game up at two apiece with an RBI groundout of his own, scoring Snell. Thanks to a baserunning lapse moments later, Hamiter broke one of the sport's unwritten rules: never make the first or third out at third base. In this case, it was the rather more unfortunate third out.

After throwing 88 pitches through five innings, Adams was sent back to the mound for a sixth inning of work, which was when things began to turn in the Tigers' favor. LSU loaded the bases with one out, and reliever Aidan Moza induced a ground ball which could've been a double play but wasn't turned. Still, that was the only damage done by the reigning national champions in the visiting sixth, giving LSU a one-run lead. In the bottom half, the Crimson Tide had another opportunity to tie it or more, but stranded the bags full with an Ian Petrutz groundout.

"Just a steady heartbeat," Vaughn said of Adams. "He's done a really good job throughout this year. He's been in some messes at times, and he might give up a run or two, but he does a great job of managing his innings... He doesn't go into panic mode."

LSU coach Jay Johnson went to probable Sunday starter Nate Ackenhausen for that last out of the sixth inning in relief of Holman. In the top of the seventh, the visitors scored three runs off Moza, the last of which coming on a wild pitch. Down four runs once more, Alabama this time could not come all the way back, netting just one more run the rest of the way.

The final run of the game went to the Crimson Tide in the home seventh with an RBI double from catcher Mac Guscette, one of the players honored as part of Senior Day festivities. That run, scored by freshman shortstop Justin Lebron, closed the book on scoring for both sides. One of the stories of the game was the struggles for the Alabama offense, which didn't have its best day but was also facing a pitching corps that's as hard to beat as any in college baseball when they're firing on all cylinders.

Vaughn still likes where his team stands, considering it can still win the series on Sunday afternoon. Considering how well expected starter Ben Hess pitched last weekend against Mississippi State when still reeling from a bad case of food poisoning, if he can pitch as well as he did then while healthy, the LSU (33-19, 11-16 SEC) lineup could get more than it bargained for as it seeks to take a road set.

The program had its Senior Day ceremony before the game, including ceremonial first pitches from loved ones to the recognized players. "They're the leaders of this group," Vaughn said. "That senior class is really special." He highlighted players who could've chosen to move on from the Capstone or college ball, and instead gave the 2024 season a chance. "We're not where we are without that group," he said. "Regardless of what happens down the stretch, I hope we keep playing good baseball and get to play, shoot, knock down the door to Omaha.

But we're gonna do that at some point. It's coming, there's no doubt, and this group of seniors is gonna be the first one that paved the way for that. And that's something to be extremely proud of."