Alabama Baseball Notebook: May 10, 2004
5/10/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
|
PITCHER OF THE WEEK NOMINATION
LHP Wade LeBlanc (Fr., 6-3, 180, Lake Charles, La.)
*Freshman LHP Wade LeBlanc tossed his league-leading seventh complete game of the season against the No. 10 Florida Gators as he continues to make his push for National and SEC "Freshman of the Year" honors
*LeBlanc tossed this third shutout of the 2004 season with a 2-0 win over the Gators in the series opener on May 7 at Sewell-Thomas Stadium
*The lefty held the high-powered Florida offense to four singles in nine innings and did not allow on Gator to reach third base. He added nine strikeouts and walked only one batter
*Florida entered the game with the SEC' second highest batting average (.316) and was the league's second best run-producing team, with 372 runs and 331 RBI
*LeBlanc's third complete-game shutout of the year leaves
him one shy of the single-season record at Alabama held by Freddy Glass in 1967. LeBlanc has recorded complete-game shutouts against Centenary, SE Missouri State and No. 10 Florida this year
*He has also been involved in four of the Crimson Tide's six shutouts this season, leaving him one shutout shy of the single-season for most combined shutouts. Bernie Strawn holds that record with five combined shutouts in 1974
*LeBlanc nine strikeouts and walked only one in the win over the Gators and set the UA single-season freshman record for strikeouts in the process. LeBlanc now has 85 strikeouts this season surpassing the previous record of 79 strikeouts set by Al Drumheller in 1991
*Florida managed only seven base runners in the loss to Alabama and only two base runners reach base in the same inning only once. That came in the fifth inning when the Gators missed out on their only chance to score off LeBlanc
*Shortstop Justin Tordi opened the fifth inning with a push-bunt base hit on the infield and then No. 8 hitter and catcher Matt LaPorta drew a four-pitch walk
*LeBlanc then settled down and retired the next three batters on infield pop ups to strand two runners on base and the Gators never threatened again
*In fact, Florida had only one more base runner as Corsaletti led off the seventh inning with a single to right field. LeBlanc then retired the last nine UF batters in order for the his seventh win of the year and second in a row against a Top 10 team.
*For the season, LeBlanc is now 7-4 with a 1.57 ERA in 14 appearances and 13 starts for the Tide. He has worked 97 2/3 innings, also a UA freshman record, and allowed 70 hits, 28 runs, 17 earned runs, with 22 walks and 85 strikeouts. He also logged his team-leading 10th quality start (6 IP, 3 ER or less) in the win over Florida
*In his last three starts, all complete games, LeBlanc has allowed one earned run (0.35 ERA) and 16 hits in 26 innings against No. 9 South Carolina, No. 6 LSU and No. 10 Florida. Those three teams are also the top three hitting teams in the SEC.
ALABAMA BASEBALL NOTEBOOK (May 10)
The Alabama Crimson Tide enters the final two weeks of the 2004 season with a 27-22 (.551) overall record ... In SEC play, Alabama owns a 8-16 (.333) record and has lost all eight series to date ... With six games remaining in the regular season, Alabama is four games behind Vanderbilt and Tennessee for the final spot in the 2004 SEC Tournament at the Hoover Met ... Alabama has lost 11 consecutive SEC series after dropping the final two games of the three-game set to Florida this weekend ... The Crimson Tide blew a 4-0 lead in the seventh inning on Saturday and lost 8-5 ... In the rubber game, Alabama took a 5-2 lead into the final inning but a two-out throwing error by third baseman Evan Bush led to four unearned runs and a 6-5 Gator win ... The 8-5 Florida win on May 8 snapped Alabama's eight-game home winning streak against the Gators ... Florida won its first series in Tuscaloosa since 1988 and has now won back-to-back series over Alabama for the first time since 1988-89 ... LeBlanc's 2-0 shutout in the series opener marked the Tide's first shutout against the Gators since posting back-to-back shutouts (5-0 and 3-0) in the 1968 SEC Playoffs in Tuscaloosa ... Junior Allen Rice (.545, 6-for-11) was the leading hitter in the series with Florida, including a three-hit game on Saturday and a two-hit game in the series finale ... Sophomore third baseman Evan Bush (.444, 4-for-9) hit safely in all three games against the Gators to extend his career-best hitting streak to 10 games ... During the 10-game hitting streak, Bush is batting .394 (13-for-33), with four runs scored, three doubles and three RBI ... Dating back to March 27, Bush has hit safely in 19 of his last 23 games, where he is hitting .329 (27-for-82), with nine runs scored, four doubles, one home run and 11 RBI ... He leads Alabama with six home runs, six sac flies and five game-winning RBI this season ... Freshman left-hander Wade LeBlanc (14 G, 13 GS, 7-4, 1.57 ERA) has taken over the SEC lead with his 1.57 ERA this season ... The Lake Charles, La., native has worked 97 2/3 innings and allowed 70 hits, 28 runs, 17 earned runs, 22 walks and 85 strikeouts ... He has already set the single-season UA freshman record for innings pitched and strikeouts ... He needs one win to tie the UA rookie record and two to break the mark of eight wins by a freshman ... LeBlanc has logged a team-leading 10 quality start (6 IP, 3 ER or less) in the win over Florida ... He has taken a shutout into the seventh inning in seven of his 13 starts this year ... Junior LHP Taylor Tankersley (16 G, 7 GS, 2-3, 1.61 ERA) dropped to second in the league in ERA after allowing two earned runs in 3 2/3 innings against Florida on May 9th ... The left-hander was added to the 2004 Roger Clemens Award Watch List, presented by the Rotary Club of Houston to college baseball's top pitcher ... Alabama still leads the SEC with a 2.94 ERA through 49 games ... Alabama also has six shutouts this season, the most since 1991 (6) ... Only two other UA teams have had more shutouts -- 1974 (11) and 1967 (7) ... For the season, Alabama has allowed three earned runs or less in 32 of 49 games ... LeBlanc's seven CGs are the most by an Alabama pitcher since Chris Eilers had seven CGs in 1995 ... The seven CGs are tied for the third-most in school history ... Only Gene Lary (8 CG, 1955) and Frank Roland (10 CGs, 1956) have more CGs than the LeBlanc ... Head coach Jim Wells has compiled a 171-116 (.595) record in SEC play, tying Dr. Barry Shollenberger (1980-94) for second-place on the school's all-time SEC win list ... Tilden "Happy" Campbell (1935-42, 47-63) holds the UA record for most SEC wins with 265 victories in 25 seasons in the UA dugout ... As of May 9, a total of 12 players have combined to miss 206 games due to injuries and illnesses this year ... Junior middle infielder and UA's second-leading hitter Rocky Scelfo (.322, HR, 27 RBI) has missed the last five games with a knee injury ... After playing the first 22 SEC games without a triple, the Crimson Tide has recorded a triple in back-to-back games against Florida (May 8-9) ... Junior first baseman Zac Welch posted the first triple of the SEC season with a two-run triple into the left field corner off Justin Hoyman on Saturday ... Rice added the second triple of the year in SEC play on Sunday ... Prior to May 8, Alabama was the only SEC team without a triple ... As a team, UA has 11 three-base hits this season, led by Rice, freshman Brandon Belcher and junior Matt Grooms with two triples each ... With Sunday's loss to Florida, Alabama is now 1-8 (.111) in SEC Sunday games this season and has lost its last four Sunday games ... During those nine games, Alabama has only been outscored, 43-42 ... Alabama is 4-10 (.286) in one-run games this season in its first 49 games ... Alabama is 1-6 (.143) in one-run SEC games ... The Crimson Tide plays its final non conference game of the season this Wednesday, May 12 against the Centenary Gents at 6:30 p.m. ... The game is a makeup from a Feb. 25 rainout in Tuscaloosa ... Alabama beat Centenary 12-0 in the second round of the 2004 Shoney's Gent Classic on Mar. 6 in Shreveport ... The Crimson Tide makes its final SEC road trip of the season this weekend at Kentucky ... Alabama has not won an SEC road series since its last visit to the Bluegrass state (April 12-14) during the 2002 season ... The Tide has lost 10 straight SEC road series, dating back to the 2002 season ...
