Tide Baseball Swept by LSU; Finishes Second in SEC Standings
5/21/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
 |
|
>Box Score & Play-by-Play
BATON ROUGE, La. -- The University of Alabama baseball team lost all three games to the LSU Tigers at Alex Box Stadium this weekend and also lost its chance at the Southeastern Conference regular-season championship.
LSU (38-17, 19-10 SEC) completed the three-game sweep with a 5-1 victory before 8,440 fans Sunday afternoon, handing Alabama its first sweep and three-game losing streak of the 2002 season.
Alabama ‘s (44-12, 20-10 SEC) three losses at LSU coupled with South Carolina’s three wins at Georgia clinched the SEC title for the Gamecocks (45-11, 21-8 SEC). It is USC’s second title in three years. South Carolina beat Georgia 4-2 on Sunday afternoon in Athens.
The Crimson Tide managed only six runs in its three losses at LSU and collected only five hits in 24 at-bats (.208) with runners in scoring position in the series. Brent Boyd was hitless in the three-game series (0-for-13, 6 K) and stranded 12 base runners.
Alabama has now lost eight straight games to LSU, matching the longest losing streak in school history. UA also lost eight in a row from 1987-90.
The Crimson Tide had plenty of chances, but stranded nine base runners, including five in scoring position. Boyd left two runners in scoring position in the first inning when he struck out to end an early game threat. UA left a runner on second base in the fourth and two more runners in the fifth.
In the sixth, the Tide stranded two base runners when Pavkovich popped out to short on a diving catch by Aaron Hill, who was running with his back to the play. Alabama wasted a pair of two-out base runners in the seventh inning as Scott McClanahan struck out, leaving two more men on base.
After that, Alabama never got another base runner against right-hander Bo Pettit, who threw 161 pitches en route to the complete game victory. Pettitt (8-6) allowed only one run and five hits, adding four walks and nine strikeouts.
“Every team has a lull,” Alabama coach Jim Wells said. “I have never known a team to play an entire season without one. I have since this since the Georgia series. We have played solidly all season long. Even the games we lost, we were in them.
“It’s unfortunate that this has happened at this time, the timing is not good. We are not swinging the bats well and the pitching was pretty good. We just have to recover. There is no room for error in the post season. I hope we can get this out of our system quickly.
“This does not take away from the season we have had,” Wells added. “We have accomplished a lot to this point in the season.”
LSU had its chances, too. The Tigers left the bases loaded in the second inning as Chris Phillips grounded into a force play to end the threat. In addition to the base running mistakes in the third and fifth innings, LSU stranded a pair of two out singles in the sixth.
The Tigers broke a scoreless tie with a run on three hits in the bottom of the third inning to take a 1-0 lead on shortstop Aaron Hill’s single up the middle to score second baseman J.C. Holt.
Holt led off with an infield single and advanced to second when third baseman Allen Rice’s throw sailed into the LSU dugout. Hill followed with an RBI single up the middle to give the Tigers the lead. After a Wally Pontiff sacrifice bunt, right fielder Sean Barker reached on an infield single to short. The inning ended when left Matt Heath popped out to Chad White in left field and Hill was picked off third base in a run down after the pop out.
Alabama evened the score in the fifth when right fielder Travis Garner singled up the middle to score designated hitter Beau Hearod from third base. Hearod led off the inning with a sharp single to right and moved to third on ground outs by Adam Pavkoivch and Allen Rice. Garner, batting leadoff for the first time since March 13 against Birmingham Southern, singled up the middle on the first pitch to tie the game.
The Tigers got the back in the bottom of the inning when Barker’s two-out base hit scored catcher Chris Phillips to give LSU a 2-1 lead. Phillips led off the inning with a single to left and moved into scoring position when Pontiff drew a two out walk. Barker then singled under the glove of a diving Pavkovich at short to break the tie. Pontiff was thrown out by White trying to advance to third base on the play. It was White’s second outfield assist of the game, tying the modern day single-game schoolrecord.
LSU left fielder Matt Heath led off the sixth inning with his eighth home run of the season to give the Tigers a 3-1 lead.
The Tigers salted the game away with two insurance runs in the seventh inning. Hill drew a lead off walk and Sanders was replaced by left-hander Taylor Tankersley.
Sanders (8-1) pitched into the seventh inning and was charged with four runs on 10 hits in six-plus innings. He added three walks and two strikeouts and sufered his first loss since a 9-6 setback at South Carolina on Mar. 30 at Columbia.
Pontiff greeted Tankersley with a bloop single to right field. After Barker struck out, Hill stole third and scored on Heath’s ground out when the Tide failed to turn the inning-ending double play. Hill’s run gave LSU a 4-1 lead.
Heath stole second base and scored on Blake Gill’s single to center field. Gill was hitless in 21 previous at-bats against left-handers this season before the RBI single against Tankersley. Gill’s base hit gave LSU a 5-1 lead.
The Crimson Tide will open the 2002 SEC Tournament as the No. 2 seed on Wednesday, May 22 at 1 p.m. against the No. 7 seed Mississippi State Bulldogs at the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. MSU swept a three-game series at home with arch-rvial Ole Miss to make the tournament field for an SEC-leading 16th consecutive year. The Crimson Tide swept the Buldogs in a three-game set last weekend in Tuscaloosa.
