Alabama Baseball Starts Midweek Slate with Commanding Win Over Middle Tennessee

The Crimson Tide is now off to a 4-0 start in the 2025 baseball season.

Alabama baseball's Will Hodo (18) hits during a game against Middle Tennessee. (Image credit: Alabama Athletics) / Alabama Athletics

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— One of the many things that adds to the unpredictability of college baseball is midweek games. In Alabama's first of the 2025 season (and of this week), the Crimson Tide took care of business 12-2 against Middle Tennessee on Tuesday.

The team did not come away from the run-rule effort completely unscathed. Starting second baseman Garrett Staton, who played his natural third base over the weekend, was hit on the hand by a pitch in the first inning and exited the game immediately, with Brennen Norton replacing him.

"Not a whole lot yet," head coach Rob Vaughn said. "It got him pretty good on the finger, so we're gonna wait and see... Kind of an unfortunate turn, but we've got the best medical care in the world here, so regardless of what it is, that guy'll be back ready to go soon."

Right-handed pitcher JT Blackwood made his first start of the season after initially debuting for Alabama in Friday's season opener. He gave his team four innings of one-run ball. Vaughn anticipated he would start the game if he either didn't appear or wasn't too taxed after the weekend.

"Just fastball command, [and] it's real easy to go out there and have all my teammates behind me," Blackwood said on what was working for him in his first start. "You've gotta prepare every day like you're going in, either coming out of the bullpen or starting, it's the same mental preparation."

There was no shortage of baserunners. Alabama loaded the bases at some point in each of the first four innings, stranding the bags full in the first two. Blue Raiders starter Will Jenkins demonstrated a nice ability to work under pressure; he pitched the first two innings, and the only run he gave up was a bases-loaded walk to third baseman Jason Torres in the opening frame.

Alabama (4-0) plated five runs before Middle Tennessee got on the board for the first time. That happened in the top of the fourth inning on a single by third baseman Hayden Miller, scoring catcher Tyler Minnick. The Crimson Tide sent home three more, including two on an RBI single by shortstop Justin Lebron, ahead of the Blue Raiders' (1-3) next run in the seventh.

There were not many taken pitches called strikes between the two teams. Through three full innings, the number of those was a paltry four. In spite of this factoid, the Crimson Tide was still able to produce good at-bats, even though the left-on-base number (13) wasn't a positive.

Blackwood paid little mind to the tight strike zone postgame, instead saying it was just something that sometimes has to be worked through. He backed up that sentiment with his performance, retiring three opposing hitters by way of the strikeout.

Lebron sent everyone home with a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth. Alabama had almost ended the game by run rule the inning before, stranding the winning run on second with an 11-2 lead after scoring three. The Crimson Tide will now face Alabama State in a quick turnaround on Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. CT before a big weekend in Jacksonville.

Alabama first baseman Will Hodo also sent a ball out with a solo shot to right center field in the fourth inning and was 3-for-5 overall. Lebron was the team's RBI leader with three. Norton got two hits in four at-bats and a pair of RBIs upon entering the game in Staton's stead.

"Brennen's just so mature," Vaughn said. "He's such a great teammate, such a good human. Believe me, he wanted to play tonight, but he didn't want to play that way. I can promise you that... You have no idea when that's coming. A foul tip, a pinch hit, you have no idea, and B was ready."

"After a weekend [where] I didn't really feel myself, it just felt awesome to catch something solid," Hodo said. "It just makes it really fun to hit when you have bases loaded because you know the pitcher's sweating. So, it just makes it a really good feeling to go up there knowing that that guy has way more to lose than you do."

Tyler Fay pitched well in relief of Blackwood. Aidan Moza struck out the side after two walks, not allowing any damage in the scoring column in his season debut. Alabama used five pitchers in the contest. Two of them threw fewer than 10 pitches. Vaughn said Fay would be able to do a bit of everything for the team this spring.

The Crimson Tide head coach also praised the performance of designated hitter Coleman Mizell, who had two hits and two RBIs while batting in the No. 3 hole. Vaughn said he responded well to the opportunity to bat there; instead of just trying to prove he belonged in the spot, he showed maturity.

There does seem to be a lot of synergy on this Alabama team in the season's early going. The offensive unit has scored in double digits in every game: 10, 19, 11 and 12 respectively. The pitching, meanwhile, has not let up five runs or more since the opener, in which a tough ninth inning was the outlier in an otherwise successful day.

"We care about [winning], but there's also times I've left the field in the past over my career where you win early, but you leave like 'Yeesh, man, that's not it.' I really like the brand of baseball we're playing right now," Vaughn said. "I think this brand of baseball, if we can consistently run that off... You will set yourself up for pretty good things."

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