Alabama Baseball Notebook: April 7, 2003
4/7/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
 |
|
SEC RECORD: 6-6
Last Week:
West Alabama 9, ALABAMA 7
at Auburn 10, ALABAMA 2
ALABAMA 3, at Auburn 2
at Auburn 7, ALABAMA 6
This Week:
April 8 -- at Northwestern State (7 PM)
April 9 -- at Centenary (6 PM)
April 11 -- Kentucky (6:30 PM)
April 12 -- Kentucky (2 PM)
April 13 -- Kentucky (2 PM)
PITCHER OF THE WEEK NOMINATION
RHP Seth Johnson (Jr., 6-1, 205, Sandy, Utah)
*Johnson appeared in two games this past week for the Crimson Tide, compiling a 1-0 record and a 0.97 ERA against West Alabama and Auburn. In 9 1/3 innings, Johnson allowed one earned run and six hits, and added 10 strikeouts and one walk.
*The junior right-hander took the mound on Saturday, making his first Southeastern Conference start of the season and just his second start of the year. Johnson’s only other start was a win over Miss. Valley State (6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K) on Feb. 27 at Tuscaloosa.
*In his first career SEC start, Johnson allowed one run and five hits in seven innings in a 3-2 win at arch-rival and No. 6 ranked Auburn on April 5, 2003.
*In his SEC debut against the Tigers, Johnson worked seven plus innings and allowed one run and five hits in the longest outing of his UA career. The right-hander also added a career high nine strikeouts and walked only two batters. He left the game after allowing a leadoff double to Chuck Jeroloman in the eighth inning.
*In his two starts this season, Johnson is 2-0 with a 0.69 ERA. The right-hander has worked 13 innings in his two starts and allowed one earned run and seven hits. He also added 15 strikeouts and two walks.
*For the season, Johnson is 4-0 with a 1.34 ERA in 11 appearances. The right-hander has worked 33.2 innings and allowed 22 hits, six runs, five earned runs, 12 walks and 37 strikeouts.
*Including his high school and junior college career, Johnson is 88-10 in his 98 career decisions.
JOHNSON GAME-BY-GAME LAST WEEK
West Alabama 2.1 1 0 0 0 0 1
at Auburn 7.0 5 1 1 1 2 9
ALABAMA BASEBALL NOTEBOOK
*The Crimson Tide has now lost three straight SEC series for the first time since 2001 when losing three in a row at Tennessee, at Auburn and LSU.
*Alabama has completed a tough stretch in its schedule as the last nine SEC games have come against Top 25 teams and six of those games have been on the road. Alabama went 3-6 (.333) in those nine games, winning one game each against No. 21 Florida, No. 12 LSU and No. 6 Auburn.
*Alabama is 4-7 (.364) against Top 30 clubs this season and is still the only team to beat No. 1 ranked Rice (32-1), winners of 29 straight games. The 29-game winning streak by the Owls is five off the NCAA record.
*Following Sunday’s loss at Auburn, Alabama is now 5-5 (.500) in one-run games this season. The Crimson Tide has lost three straight one-run games on Sunday in SEC play. Overall, Alabama has played four one-run games in SEC play.
*Freshman outfielder Brandon Avalos extended his hitting streak to eight games with a two-out double in the second inning on April 6th at Plainsman Park.
*Avalos, playing 10 days removed from an emergency appendectomy (Mar. 26), returned to the Alabama lineup on April 5th at Auburn and drove home the winning run in the fourth inning with a sacrifice fly, his first career GW RBI.
*In the series opener at Auburn, UA starter Taylor Tankersley allowed a career-high seven runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings before exiting the game after Sean Gamble’s home run. Tankersley added seven strikeouts, three walks and hit two batters in the shortest outing of his career.
*Tankersley has 66 strikeouts which ranks second in the SEC to Vanderbilt left-hander Jeremy Sowers (70).
*Senior center fielder Travis Garner went 0-for-4 in the series opener at Auburn, snapping his career long 18-game hitting streak. The 18-game hitting streak was the second-longest in the SEC this year.
*Senior Beau Hearod in the final two games of the Auburn series, increasing his SEC-leading home run total to 13 home runs this season. Hearod also has an SEC-best 51 RBI this season.
*Hearod’s 13 home runs are the most in his college career. Last year as a junior, Hearod his 12 home runs for the Crimson Tide. The 51 RBI this season are four shy of his single-season high set in 2001 (55 RBI).
*Hearod was the Crimson Tide’s leading hitter at Auburn, going 5-for-11 (.455) with two home runs and three RBI. He also scored three runs.
*Alabama leaves Auburn and heads to Shreveport, La., where it will spend the next three days of its 2003 Spring Break. The Crimson Tide will play Northwestern State in Natichtoches, La. at 7 p.m. Tuesday night and then plays Centenary on Wednesday at 6 p.m. on Shreveport.
*Coach Wells spent five years at Northwestern State and is the school’s all-time winningest coach, leading the Demons to three Southland Conference titles from 1990-95. Prior to the game, Wells will have his No. 17 retired by his former school.
*NSU is currently coached by former Wells and Alabama assistant coach Mitch Gaspard, who spent the 1995-2001 seasons with the Crimson Tide.
*Alabama returns home next weekend to host the Kentucky Wildcats in a three-game series with Kentucky.
