Alabama Baseball Notebook: April 19, 2004
4/19/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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Overall Record: 23-15
SEC Record: 5-10
Last Week's Games:
April 14 Alabama 5, UAB 3 (Hoover Met)
April 16 Auburn 8, Alabama 2
April 17 Auburn 7, Alabama 1
April 18 Alabama 19, Auburn 0
This Week's Games:
April 21 vs. Samford (6:30 PM)
April 23 at South Carolina (7 PM, ET)
April 24 at South Carolina (4 PM, ET) (FOX SportsNet South)
April 25 at South Carolina (1:30 PM, ET)
PITCHER OF THE WEEK NOMINATION
40 Taylor Tankersley (LHP, Jr., 6-2, 215, Vicksburg, Miss.)
*Tankersley threw eight scoreless innings and stuck out a career high 12 batters as the Crimson Tide avoided a three-game home sweep with a 19-0 blowout win over arch-rival and No. 12 Auburn on April 18 at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
*Tankersley faced just two over the minimum in the win over Auburn, his third career victory in six appearances against the Tigers. Tankersley is 3-1 with two saves in his career against Auburn.
*The junior limited the Tigers to just three singles (two infield hits) and it was with two outs in the eighth inning before Auburn advanced a runner to second base against the lefty.
*Tankersley struck out seven of the first 10 batters he faced in the game, including six straight strikeouts in the first, second and third innings.
*He retired eight straight batters in the first, second, third and fourth innings. After allowing an infield hit to Sean Gamble, Tankersley bounced back and retired the next nine AU hitters in order before walking Chuck Jeroloman with one out in the seventh, his only walk of the game.
*Tankersley and Brent Carter (1 IP, 1 K) combined for the fifth shutout of the season by Alabama and its first in SEC play.
*The 19-0 win over Auburn was the largest margin of victory in series history by either team. The 19-0 shutout was the largest in the series, surpassing the Tide's 17-0 win in 1950.
*For the season, Tankersley is 2-2 with a team-best 1.64 ERA. In 44 innings, he has allowed 32 hits, nine runs, eight earned runs, eight walks and 51 strikeouts. Opponents are batting .211 against him this season.
ALABAMA HITTING NOTES:
Alabama is batting .281 (358-for-1,276) on the season with 26 home runs and 221 RBI in 38 games ... The current .281 batting average is the highest since the team was hitting .286 after a 4-3 loss to Bham Southern on Mar. 17th ... Alabama pounded eight Auburn pitchers for a season-high 20 hits in the series finale ... Against the Tigers, Alabama batted .315 (34-for-108) with two home runs and 20 RBI ... Bama outscored the Tigers 22-15 in the series, but lost two games ... In SEC play, Alabama is batting .254 (129-for-508) with eight home runs and 59 RBI ... After hitting just two home runs in its first nine SEC games, Alabama has hit six home runs in its last nine league games ... Junior Allen Rice continues to lead the Crimson Tide in hitting with a .352 (45-for-128) average ... Rice leads the club with 32 runs scored and has added one home run, seven doubles and 25 RBI ... Evan Bush leads the team with six home runs and five sac flies this season ... Zac Welch is the top run producer with 30 RBI thus far ...
ALABAMA PITCHING NOTES:
The pitching has been solid this season for Alabama ... UA is 23-15 on the season with eight saves and a 2.87 ERA ... Alabama has added five shutouts and four complete games this season ... In SEC play, Alabama is 5-10 with three saves and a 4.19 ERA ... The staff has two complete games and one shutout in league play ... Junior LHP Taylor Tankersley (13 G, 4 GS, 2-2, 1.64) sports the lowest ERA on the staff ... Freshman LHP Wade LeBlanc is 5-3 with a 2.01 ERA in 10 starts this season for Bama ... The three hits by Auburn on April 18 matched the fewest number of his allowed by UA this season ... SE Missouri State also managed only three hits in a 10-1 loss to the Tide on March 12 ... Alabama has allowed three earned runs or less in 25 of its 38 games this year ...
ALABAMA FIELDING NOTES:
The Crimson Tide is fielding .969 (43 errors) through 38 games ... In SEC play Alabama is fielding at a .968 (18 errors) clip through 15 games ... Alabama has played 12 errorless games this season ... The Crimson Tide has played just two errorless games since Mar. 21st ... Alabama has made 22 errors since March 24th (16 games), after making only 21 errors in its first 22 games of the season ...
ALABAMA NOTEBOOK:
*Alabama's 19-0 win over arch-rival Auburn on April 18 was the most lopsided game in the 234-game series, which dates back to 1896. In addition, the 19-0 shutout win is the largest shutout victory by either team, surpassing a 17-0 win by Alabama in 1950.
*Alabama handed Auburn the second-worst loss in school history and worst since 1941. The worst defeat in Auburn baseball annals was a 30-4 loss to Georgia in 1941.
*The win over Auburn was Alabama's fifth shutout of the season and the fifth time in 40 games under Wells the Tide has shutout the Tigers.
*Alabama ended a seven-game Sunday SEC losing streak with its win over Auburn on April 18.
*Bama tallied a season-high 20 hits in the win over Auburn, the first 20-hit game by the Tide since beating Kentucky on April 14, 2002 in Lexington.
*The Crimson Tide has lost eight straight SEC series, dating back to last season. The series losing streak includes Tennessee, South Carolina, Miss. State (2003) and Georgia, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Auburn (2004).
*Alabama has also lost nine straight SEC road series, dating back to the 2002 season. The streak includes losses to Georgia, LSU, Florida, Auburn, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Georgia and Arkansas.
*Alabama's next two SEC series are on the road at South Carolina (April 23-25) and LSU (April 30-May 2). The Crimson Tide has never won a series at Columbia and has not won a series in Baton Rouge since 1996.
*Junior Allen Rice had four hits and scored four runs in the win over Auburn on April 18. The four hits matched his season and career high, while the four runs are the most in his UA career.
*Rice's four runs scored are the most by an Alabama player this season and the most since Beau Hearod scored four times in a win over UAB on April 24, 2003.
*Junior Zac Welch picked up three hits and a career-high five RBI in the win over Auburn in the series finale. The five RBI are the most by an Alabama player this season and the most since Allen Rice drove in five runs in a 13-3 SEC Tournament win over Auburn (May 24) last year.
*Junior Rocky Scelfo has an 11-game hitting streak, the longest current streak on the team. During the streak, Scelfo is batting .409 (18-for-44) with three doubles and seven RBI. He has at least one RBI in three straight games.
*Earlier this season, Rice had an 11-game hitting streak for Bama. The junior opened the season by hitting .489 (22-for-45) in his first 11 games with one home run and 10 RBI.
*Junior left-hander Brent Carter returned to the mound this week after a 10-day absence and posted two solid performances out of the pen. In his first relief appearance of the season, Carter worked 3 2/3 innings and allowed one hit and struck out six as the Crimson Tide posted a 5-3 come-from-behind win over UAB at the Hoover Met. With the win, Carter improved to 5-3 on the season. On April 18, Carter combined with Tankersley on a three-hit shutout of No. 12 Auburn as he worked a perfect ninth inning, with one strikeout. In 4 2/3 innings this week, Carter had seven strikeouts.
*Freshman Brandon Belcher had two hits and three RBI, including a game-winning three-run home run in the seventh inning, in the Crimson Tide's win over UAB on April 14 at the Hoover Met.
*Alabama has recorded a school record 20 passed balls this season, led by senior Nick Richardson's SEC-leading 11 passed balls. The Crimson Tide had four errors and three passed balls in its 8-2 loss to Auburn in the series opener.
