No. 19 Alabama Baseball Ends Rob Vaughn’s Inaugural Series with Sweep

In Sunday’s game against Manhattan, which looked far different than the prior two, No. 19 Alabama clinched a series sweep on opening weekend.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.- You never know what you’ll see at the ballpark, and after two shutout wins with 25 combined strikeouts, the No. 19 Alabama baseball team had to overcome a spirited comeback effort from Manhattan College on Sunday. The 11-8 win secured the first series sweep of the Rob Vaughn era.

The game began much as Saturday’s played out: with defensive miscues on the part of the Jaspers. A booted ball by shortstop Josiah Brown scored a pair of Crimson Tide runners in the bottom of the very first inning. In the second, after Manhattan lifted its opener from the mound, the ensuing hurler, righty Jordan Sesar, hit and walked a batter each. One of those two went on to score. It was the first of two more runs in the inning, and the following pitcher walked in the other one.

Manhattan’s bats, so cold and quiet on Friday and Saturday, finally got to Sunday starter Aidan Moza in the top of the third and scored three unearned runs thanks in part to a key error at second base. Three more green-clad hitters reached the basepaths before he came out of the game in the fifth for debutant Tyler Fay, and they’d all end up scoring, all earned (two singles and a walk). Fay stranded runners of his own, but the Jaspers were back in the game.

Up to this point, Alabama had not yet hit its first home run of the regular season. It came on an inside-the-parker by freshman shortstop Justin Lebron, also scoring Mason Swinney, that the Jasper outfield couldn’t corral quickly enough to stop the speedy Lebron from another highlight moment. With two gone in the inning, center fielder TJ McCants continued his hot streak by becoming the first Crimson Tide batter to hit a home run out of the yard. Just as quickly as Manhattan College fought back into the game, the score was now 8-3. Right fielder Evan Sleight kept the line moving with an opposite-field solo shot in the fourth. However, it was at this juncture that the troublesome fifth inning for Moza and Fay made it 9-6. It featured a walk and multiple hit batsmen.

Moza’s line ended with four innings and seven strikeouts, but the fourth, fifth and sixth opposing runs all dinged his earned-run average. Moza was the first starter of the opening weekend to give up a run. At one point, he had five consecutive strikeouts before he began to struggle. He was on a pitch count and tossed 67 of them.

The Jaspers scored a seventh run in the sixth inning courtesy of a Drew Wyers single. Wyers, the third baseman, was one of the best players of the weekend for the visiting team. Suddenly, Manhattan was within striking distance. In the home half of the sixth, Will Hodo sent the fourth Alabama home run of the game over the wall in right field, bringing the Crimson Tide score to double digits for the second day in a row. Once again, Manhattan got the run back with a Trevor Hansen RBI single just before stretch time. In the home frame of the eighth, leadoff hitter Gage Miller finally got his first home run in an Alabama uniform, rounding out the scoring.

Star left-handed closer Alton Davis II made his much-anticipated season debut in the eighth inning, and despite taking a ball off the leg, he finished the game and recorded three strikeouts. He got a tremendous ovation from the Tuscaloosa crowd both as he entered and as he closed out a monumental moment: the first sweep under Vaughn’s leadership.

How it Happened:

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• Manhattan College pinch hitter Chase Swain drew a one-out walk but was stranded there. Alabama wins 11-8, sweeping the series. 

• Bryce Eblin enters the game at third base and Will Portera enters at second base. 

• Will Hodo hit a two-out single but was stranded on first. Manhattan College is down to its final three outs down three runs. 

• Gage Miller hits the fifth home run of the day for the Crimson Tide, a solo shot to left field. Alabama leads 11-8. 

• Manhattan College strands a runner on first base. The top of Alabama's order is coming up with the Crimson Tide leading by two. 

• Seven in the books. Alabama can't stretch the lead in the bottom of the frame, so it's still 10-8, Crimson Tide. Alton Davis II coming in to pitch in his season debut.

• Stretch time at The Joe. The Jaspers add one more run and get it back from B6, bringing the deficit to two runs once more. 10-8 Alabama with Mason Swinney set to lead off the home half.

• Will Hodo hits the fourth home run on the afternoon, a solo shot to right field to add to Alabama's lead 10-7. 

• Coulson Buchanan is entering the game in relief of Tyler Fay. A groundout on Buchanan's first pitch gets the Crimson Tide out of the inning. 

• Manhattan College scores on a throwing error by third baseman Gage Miller. Alabama leads 9-7. 

• The Jaspers retire the minimum in B5, and it's still a 9-6 ball game.

• All of Fay's inherited runners score, leaving Moza with three earned runs and Manhattan has made it a game again. Lebron, Guangorena and Miller up in a 9-6 game.

• Moza is lifted from the contest for Tyler Fay. He's responsible for two Jasper runners, but as of this second, none on his ledger are earned. Fay can help his starter out here if he escapes the bases-loaded jam. Still no one out in T5.

• Back-to-back singles open T5 for Manhattan and Guangorena takes a trip to the mound to talk to Moza.

• Evan Sleight joins the home run party with a solo shot to left field. Alabama leads 9-3 after four innings.  

• Jaspers center fielder Dylan Mayer hits a leadoff single, but a double play and a strikeout the following two at-bats end the top of the fourth with no damage. 

• The third inning ends with Alabama up 8-3 after a pair of home runs, one inside the park and one outside of it.

• TJ McCants, almost fittingly, is the first Crimson Tide player to leave the yard this season. Alabama has broken it back open at 8-3.

• The first home run of the season? An inside-the-parker by Justin Lebron that scores two after the Jaspers have some trouble. 6-3 Alabama with one out in B3.

• The top of the third ends with Manhattan College right back in the game. Due up for the Crimson Tide: Swinney, Mizell, Lebron.

• A sac fly, a single and a double have plated the first two Jasper runs of the weekend in T3. None earned. 4-3 Alabama with two away.

• Will Hodo hits an RBI single to extend the Crimson Tide lead 4-0, but a ground out by Evan Sleight ends the second inning. 

• TJ McCants drew a two-out walk to load the bases. Garret Garbinski comes in for relief for Manhattan College. Ian Petrutz draws a bases-loaded walk, bringing in a run. Alabama leads 3-0. 

• Mizell drew a walk, Lebron was hit by a pitch, Guangorena popped up, and Miller hit a single. Mizell was thrown out at the plate. 

• Jordan Sesar has come in relief for Manhattan College. 

• Moza gets a hat trick of strikeouts in the second inning, bringing his total to five on the afternoon. Mizell, Lebron, and Guangorena are due up.

• The first two runs, Petrutz and Hodo, score on an error by the Jaspers shortstop. The visitors should've been out of the inning with a goose egg. Manhattan retires the side on the next batter.

• Moza strikes out a pair in T1, starting things off quickly for Alabama. Miller, McCants and Petrutz will lead off for the Crimson Tide offense, same as they have all weekend.

• First pitch at 1:02 p.m. CT.

• It'll be white batting helmets for Manhattan College, whose jerseys say 'The Bronx.' That's where the college is located, which could be confusing. Nevertheless, first pitch is moments away.

• Alabama is wearing crimson jerseys and hats with white pants. The Sunday Crimsons. Manhattan College is repping full kelly green uniforms, including hats. Batting helmets TBD. Three different uniforms on the weekend for the visitors. 

• Mac Guscette, who has had a stellar opening weekend, is not starting at catcher. Kameron Guangorena will start instead. Rob Vaughn alluded to this in the postgame presser on Saturday. 

See Also: 

Instant Analysis: Takeaways From Alabama Baseball's Series Win Over Manhattan College