Eleven-Run Third Inning Propels Alabama Baseball to Midweek Win Over Samford

The Alabama baseball offense came alive in a big way on Tuesday night.

Alabama baseball players celebrate in a game against Samford. / Alabama Athletics

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— The three runs the No. 23 Alabama baseball team scored in the fifth inning would not have been enough to defeat Samford on Tuesday night. Every other home half-inning apart from that fifth was scoreless, except the third. In the third inning, the Crimson Tide (26-15, 7-11 SEC) scored 11 runs.

The Bulldogs (26-14, 10-2 SoCon) fell to the home team at Sewell-Thomas Stadium by a 14-5 margin, bolstered largely by that third-inning offensive onslaught. The first time these two teams met, Samford drew to within one in the ninth inning, but could not muster such a rally in the rematch.

"That's a really good team," Alabama head coach Rob Vaughn said. "All in all, just a really good team win... I didn't think these guys flinched." Vaughn's team had dropped its past two midweeks. The second of those prompted him to say the Crimson Tide simply hadn't played well enough.

Samford took it to Crimson Tide started Kade Snell in the top of the second inning, plating four runs off him with back-to-back RBI doubles and a two-run home run by leadoff man Garrett Staton. Vaughn attributed Snell's issues to not finishing at-bats. When Alabama third baseman Gage Miller stepped into the batter's box to lead off the home third, his squad faced a 4-0 deficit.

Three two-run home runs, all to left field, gave Alabama a 6-4 lead. Right fielder Evan Sleight hit the one which broke the tie for the last time. "When it gets to this time of the year, you really gotta just lock in with the approach," Sleight said. "That was a great inning for us, and that's a glimpse into what we can do as a lineup."

Freshman shortstop Justin Lebron hit the first of the three home runs, initially slashing the deficit in half. He went 3-5 for the evening. "I was just seeing the ball really well today, and I was just trying to do my job in certain cases," he said.

"I tell him [Lebron] all the time, I'm so proud of him," Sleight said. "As a freshman, especially in the SEC, it's extremely challenging... The head on his shoulders is something I've actually never seen before." Lebron said leadership from players like Sleight has allowed him to settle in and continue to learn.

The other home run in the inning belonged to TJ McCants, bringing his season total to 13 and further increasing the single-season career best he set once he entered double digits. His opposite-field blast tied the game. The wheels came off from there for Samford, which used three pitchers in the inning and eight on the night. Alex Gaeto, who gave up the home run to Sleight, was tagged with the loss.

The home runs did not encompass all the third-inning damage. Lebron also had a double for two runs batted in, as did first baseman Will Hodo, who himself scored the last run of the inning on a passed ball. Samford scored one more run in the top of the fifth and Alabama responded with three.

As for the Crimson Tide pitching, the coaching staff took a by-committee approach after Snell's exit, with freshman reliever Austin Morris earning the win. "A-Mo was great tonight," Vaughn said. "Same thing with Zane Probst... Aidan Moza was outstanding.. and then Braylon [Myers] was great at the end." Freshman Ariston Veasey made his Alabama debut and was lifted after issuing back-to-back walks, but Vaughn was happy he had a chance to get his feet wet. He said some of those players will be relied on to get outs during the weekend's SEC series against Ole Miss.

"That's part of what makes college baseball awesome," Vaughn said of facing a challenge like playing Ole Miss on the road. He plans on reminding his players not to allow those hostile crowds to make them emotional in negative ways. "When you get emotional, you get outside of yourself," Vaughn said. "At the end of the day, that's what makes college baseball the greatest thing ever. We get to go on the road in front of two great crowds, and two really good teams [Ole Miss and Mississippi State] these next two weekends. The Ole Miss series runs from Thursday to Saturday.

Vaughn provided an update on starting pitcher Ben Hess, who took a comebacker off his lower leg against Texas A&M and left the game. He will start Friday in Oxford, Miss. "It was more scary than anything," said Vaughn. He's been pleased with his players' energy on short turnarounds, as they have now had multiple scheduled Thursday-Saturday weekends.

"SEC games aren't hard to get up for," Vaughn said. As an example of the energy he likes to see, he used injured starter Riley Quick, likening himself to Quick's get-back coach if the two were on a football field. "That dude is right next to me," he said. "That permeates down... They're into every single pitch, and that matters." The turning point, he said, was after the Kentucky series.

There are not a lot of home games left (three, to be exact) for Alabama. The Crimson Tide faces a major test in Mississippi over the course of the next couple of weekends. It got the result it wanted on Tuesday night, overcoming an area (midweeks) that had become problematic. However, even in April, the SEC schedule is far from over. A cohesive effort is what's needed to win, and Alabama brought that on Tuesday.