Pitchers' Duel Highlights NCAA Baseball Tournament's Tuscaloosa Return

A classic pitchers' duel kept both teams in the nightcap of day one of the Tuscaloosa Regional in striking distance of each other.

Alabama Athletics

There was much fanfare surrounding the highly anticipated return of postseason baseball to Tuscaloosa after a 17-year wait. In the nightcap of the first day of the Tuscaloosa Regional, fans were treated to some old-school baseball in the form of a pitchers' duel.

The two aces for the Alabama Crimson Tide and Nicholls Colonels went stride for stride in a game without much separation. That lack of separation was because of the pitching repertoires both teams trotted out.

It didn't matter that Alabama won 16 SEC games in the regular season, and 40 games overall. Nicholls starter Jacob Mayers, who entered Friday night's contest with a sterling 9-1 record and sub-2 earned run average, lived up to his billing as a pitcher whose abilities are right up there with any hurler in the tournament.

It didn't matter that Nicholls won the Southland Conference tournament, as well as five of its last six games, leading into Friday night. Alabama starter Luke Holman, a star breakout pitcher in a league full of them, showed why he didn't just pitch his way out of the midweek starter's role- he pitched into the number one spot in Alabama's rotation. That same rotation includes two 2022 Major League Baseball draft picks.

Mayers went 5.2 innings, tossing 100 pitches even, with just three hits and two runs. His first four innings were hitless and he had eight strikeouts. He was, as Crimson Tide interim head coach Jason Jackson put it, "as advertised."

Holman, whose ledger is decorated with experience at the highest levels of college baseball, outlasted his counterpart with six full innings. He surrendered five hits and two runs, while punching out five Colonel batters. 

"Mayers is really good, but our guy's pretty dang good, too," Jackson said. "You had two really talented arms out there going at it. As a pitching guy, I loved to see that... It was fun to see [them] thundering away at it, putting up zeroes and making big pitches."

"Luke was as advertised too."

Nicholls head coach Mike Silva said Mayers finally ran out of gas in the sixth, and with the bags full, he had to take his star out of the game. Holman ran into trouble at times, too. The Colonels scored first with a solo home run in the second inning. He pitched from behind until the fifth, then gave up his second run in the sixth. 

In a similar fashion to a championship fight, the phases of the game were very different. Mayers had the better early innings. Holman settled in and finished stronger. Both players were excellent, but something had to give. On this night, Mayers bowed out first.

When the game was finally decided, a 4-3 Alabama win by way of a Jim Jarvis walk-off, Holman's side had won the fight.

See Also:

After Nearly Two Decade Wait, 'The Joe' is Ready for Postseason Baseball

BamaCentral Instant Analysis: No. 16 Alabama 4, Nicholls 3

Jason Jackson: Alabama Baseball's Mr. Right Now