Marathon Fifth Inning Paces Alabama Baseball in Win Over Coastal Carolina

On a cold Friday night in Jacksonville, the Crimson Tide stayed active on the basepaths and won.

Alabama baseball's Brennen Norton during a game against Middle Tennessee. (Image credit: Alabama Athletics) | Alabama Athletics

The word of the night on Friday in the Alabama baseball team's Jax College Baseball Classic opener against Coastal Carolina was walk.

A number of words and phrases can be used to replace it: free pass, base on balls and more. There were plenty of them to go around between the still-unbeaten Crimson Tide (6-0) and Chanticleers (4-2), and they made the difference in Alabama's 9-2 win.

It was otherwise an offensively muted game in Jacksonville. There were no extra-base hits on either side, and Alabama's nine runs came on just three hits. The stats were anything but typical, whether it's a chilly February showing or not.

"It's freezing cold in the state of Florida. We weren't thinking it was going to be like coming to the University of Maryland, but it was," head coach Rob Vaughn said.

The major difference was the fifth inning, when Coastal Carolina used three different pitchers after starter Cullen McKay couldn't continue past the fourth (he was not injured, but also not economical, tossing 85 pitches). During that inning, the Chanticleers walked in three runs.

Four of the Crimson Tide's runs overall came by way of walks. All told, Coastal issued 12, tripling Alabama's four. The first score of the game, in fact, came on a second-inning walk issued to center fielder Richie Bonomolo Jr.; he drew an additional RBI on a base on balls in the fifth.

Other beneficiaries of easy-way RBIs were left fielder Kade Snell and center fielder Bryce Fowler. The Chanticleers just couldn't get out of their own way on the mound, also letting a run across via a passed ball in the third inning, sending in shortstop Justin Lebron.

The aforementioned fifth inning quickly ballooned what was a slim 2-1 margin into a 7-1 lead for designated visitor Alabama. On a night like Friday, that proved too much.

Coastal actually tied the game at one apiece in the bottom of the second on a groundout by Ty Barranga. That's just the kind of game it was; there were exactly two RBI hits in the entire contest. Alabama second baseman Brennen Norton got the first, a two-run single during the aforementioned five-alarm disaster for the Chanticleers that was the top half of inning number five.

The second, arriving after the game seemed all but out of reach, came off the bat of designated hitter substitute Kaleb Huffman in the home half of the seventh. The two runs Alabama added on as insurance in the ninth were on a fielder's choice off the bat of Snell and an error allowing Bonomolo to reach, enabling first baseman Will Hodo to come home.

"I thought the hardest-hit balls were outs, so it was kind of a weird night, but we won the battle of the strike zone. Our guys were unbelievable," Vaughn said. "Between a good start and really good relief outings, we found a way to get it done against a really good team."

Alabama starter Zane Adams threw 4.1 strong innings, striking out six. He was followed by Tyler Fay, who picked up the win. Hit with the loss was McKay despite officially having only one earned run; his successor, Luke Jones (four earned runs), did not bring their team the same fortunes as Fay did for Alabama.

The Crimson Tide now awaits a new test, turning around quickly at 3 p.m. CT on Saturday to face No. 12 NC State. It's Alabama's first game of the season against a ranked foe, though quite far from the last. The Wolfpack lost in upset fashion earlier Friday to Ohio State.