Bama Rallies to Defeat Auburn at SEC Tournament, 7-5
8/28/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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*The Alabama Crimson Tide (35-22) posted its 18th come-from-behind win of the 2003 season with a dramatic 7-5 win over the arch rival Auburn Tigers (39-18) in second round action at the SEC Tournament played here at the Hoover Met.
*Alabama staged its come-from-behind by scoring four times in the eighth inning off the SEC's best closer Steven Register (3-2), who entered the game with a league-leading 15 saves.
**Adam Pavkovich reached on a strikeout and wild pitch and Beau Hearod drew a walk to chase Eric Brandon.
**Register came in and gave up a two-run double to first baseman Zac Welch after AU left fielder Sean Gamble did not make the catch on a diving attempt as the ball rolled to the wall.
**Ryan Beagle popped up and AU brought in Levale Speigner gave up a one-out single to Nathan Meiners, who plated Welch with the winning run.
**Grant Redding pinch ran for Meiners and later scored when Evan Bush reached on a fielders choice to extend the Bama lead to 7-5. Bush fouled off four, two-strike pitches in his eight-pitch at-bat in the inning.
*The session four attendance was 14,427, which is the second-largest crowd ever to witness a college baseball game in the state of Alabama. The largest crowd was 16,165 fans set in the 1999 SEC Tournament championship between Alabama and Arkansas here at the Hoover Met.
*Alabama has now reached the "Final Four" of the SEC Tournament all eight times under Coach Jim Wells. The Crimson Tide has won at least two games every year in the SEC Tournament under Wells, including 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2003. UA did not make the SEC Tournament in 2001.
*Alabama is 2-0 at the SEC Tournament and now awaits the winner of the South Carolina-Auburn game on Saturday, May 24 at 5 p.m. The game will be televised by Comcast Sports Southeast.
*The Crimson Tide is also 2-0 in SEC Tournament play for the fifth time under Wells, including 1996. 1997, 1999 and 2002 and 2003. In the previous four years (1996, 1997, 1999 and 2002), Alabama won the SEC Tournament Championship.
*Alabama is now 28-8 (.778) in SEC Tournament games under Coach Wells. In games played here at the Hoover Met, Alabama is 20-6 (.000) under Wells.
*The Crimson Tide has won four straight SEC Tournament games dating back to last year.
*With wins over No. 14 South Carolina and No. 13 Auburn, Alabama improves to 11-9 (.550) against ranked teams this season.
*Alabama is 2-2 against Auburn this season, with three-game decided by two runs or less.
*Alabama is 1-3 against South Carolina this year, with two games decided by two runs or less.
*Welch had two hits and two RBI in the win over Auburn to extend his hitting streak to a team-best eight straight games. During the streak, Welch is batting 12-for-32 (.375) for the Crimson Tide.
*Sophomore left-hander Taylor Tankersley (7-4) pitched three scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and striking out two AU batters, for his first win since April 26.
*Meiners' RBI single in the eighth inning was his third game-winning RBI of the 2003 season. Meiners entered the eighth inning with just two hits in his previous 23 at-bats before plating the game winner in the SEC Tournament.
*Hearod had a two-run single to give the Crimson Tide a 2-1 lead in the third inning, extending his team-leading total to 77 RBI in 56 games. With those 77 RBI, Hearod is now sixth on the single-season charts at Alabama. He moved past Joe Caruso, the 1996 SEC Tournament MVP, in the win over Auburn. Caruso had 76 RBI in 1997. Dustan Mohr, now with the Minnesota Twins, is fifth on the single-season charts with 79 RBI.
*Pavkovich doubled in the second inning to extend his team lead to 24 double this season. Pavkovich holds the single-record for most doubles by a sophomore with the 24 two-base hits. Andy Phillips held the record with 22 doubles as senior in 1999.
*Sophomore left-hander Brent Carter pitched six innings to move into the tie with Scott Murphy (2000) for fifth place on UA's single-season list for innings pitched with 113 2/3 innings. Carter also added four strikeouts, giving him 97 strikeouts this season, which is 10th on the school's single-season list.
