Baseball Team Wins SEC Tournament Championship
5/26/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
UA Captures 6th post-season crown with 6-2 win over South Carolina
Sunday, May 26, 2002
 |
|
Box Score & Play-by-Play
*Alabama defeated South Carolina 6-2 on Sunday afternoon to capture the 2002 Southeastern Conference Tournament Championship. Alabama has now won six SEC Tournament titles, including five under coach Jim Wells.
*The win assures Alabama the SEC’s automatic bid to the 2002 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, which begins this Friday at 16 campus sites. The NCAA Selection show will be aired live on espn2 on Monday, May 27 beginning at 11:30 a.m. (CT).
*Alabama is hoping to be one of those 16 campus sites for this year’s NCAA Tournament. The bracket and sites will be announced on Monday. Should Alabama earn a host site, tickets will go on sale Monday, May 27 through the Alabama Athletic Ticket Office. UA season ticket holders will receive priority on the NCAA Tournament tickets. The tournament books are priced at $65 (lower chairback), $55 (chairback) and $50 (bleacher reserved). For additional information, please contact the UA Ticket Office at (205) 348-2262.
*The Crimson Tide is now 6-0 (1.000) all-time in SEC Tournament Championship game appearances, winning the title in 1983, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999.
Year Result of Game Site
1983 -- Alabama 10, Miss. State 9 Starkville, Miss.
1995 -- Alabama 9, LSU 8 Starkville, Miss.
1996 -- Alabama 15, Florida 5 Hoover, Ala.
1997 -- Alabama 12, LSU 2 Columbus, Ga.
1999 -- Alabama 9, Arkansas 3 Hoover, Ala.
2002 -- Alabama 6, South Carolina 2 Hoover, Ala.
*Alabama coach Jim Wells won his fifth SEC Tournament championship with Sunday’s win over the Gamecocks. Only former LSU coach Skip Bertman has won more tourney titles, winning six crowns. Wells led UA to post-season championships in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2002.
Coach (Titles) School Championships
Skip Bertman (6) LSU 1986, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 2000
Jim Wells (5) UA 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2002
Ron Polk (4) MSU 1979, 1985, 1987 and 1990
Joe Arnold (3) UF 1984, 1988 and 1991
Rod Delmonico (3) UT 1993, 1994 and 1995
Hal Baird (2) AU 1989 and 1998
Jake Gibbs (1) UM 1977
Paul Nix (1) AU 1978
Larry Schmittou (1) VU 1980
Jay Bergman (1) UF 1981
Jack Rhine (1) UF 1982
Barry Shollenberger UA 1983
Pat McMahon (1) MSU 2001
*From 1993-95, the league played two separate tournaments with the Eastern and Western Division. Both teams are listed as tourney champions that year.
*The 2002 SEC Championship game drew 13,367 fans, the largest crowd of the tournament. The championship game crowd is the third largest in SEC Tournament history. Alabama has played in front of three largest crowds in tourney history, including the record 16,177 fans in the 1999 championship game against Arkansas.
*Alabama first baseman Brent Boyd was named the SEC Tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Boyd batted .500 (10-for-20) with eight runs scored, two doubles, one home run and three RBI.
*The Crimson Tide also placed LHP Jeffrey Norris (2 G, 1-0, 1 SV, 9.2 IP, 10 H, 2 ER, 5 K) and 2B Peter Stonard (5 G, .400, 10-for-25, 5 R, 3 2B, HR, 6 RBI) on the 2002 SEC All-Tournament team.
*Norris threw a complete-game in the win over South Carolina, allowing two runs and 10 hits en route to his fifth win of the season. He added five strikeouts and no walks. The win over USC was his first since April 20 against Ole Miss. In the four starts in between, Norris never reached the fifth inning.
*Stonard will take a seven-game hitting streak into the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship.
*South Carolina managed only two runs in Sunday’s championship game loss, matching the fewest runs allowed by Alabama in an SEC Tournament championship game. The previous low was two runs in a 12-2 win over LSU in 1997.
*Junior right fielder Travis Garner’s stolen base in the second gives him 13 consecutive successful stolen bases this season. He leads Alabama with 21 stolen bases this season.
*Alabama hit into 10 double plays in the four meetings with South Carolina this season. The Crimson Tide hit into two double plays in Sunday’s championship game. In the three-game series in Columbia (Mar. 29-31), Alabama hit into eight double plays.
*USC starter Chris Hernandez, making his second career start and first against an SEC team, allowed five earned runs and six hits in 1 1/3 innings before leaving the game in the second inning. Hernandez added two walks and one strikeout.
*South Carolina shortstop Drew Meyer’s two-out double in the fifth inning was the 149th double of the year for the Gamecocks, tying the single-season record set in 1985.
