Alabama Baseball Notebook: May 3, 2004
5/3/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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PITCHER OF THE WEEK NOMINATION
LHP Wade LeBlanc (Fr., 6-3, 180, Lake Charles, La.)
*Tossed his league-leading sixth complete game of the season as Alabama beat No. 6 LSU 8-2 in the series opener at Baton Rouge
*LeBlanc held the SEC's best offensive team to two runs (one earned) and five hits in nine innings for his sixth win of the season
*He added two walks and struck out four LSU batters
*LeBlanc took a perfect game into the fifth inning as he retired the first 12 LSU batters in order
*The win over LSU was his team-leading ninth quality start (6 IP, 3 ER or less) this season for Alabama. He has a quality start this season in 75 percent (9 of 12) of his starts
*For the season, LeBlanc is 6-3 with the second-best ERA (1.73) in the SEC behind teammate Taylor Tankersley. The rookie has worked 88 2/3 innings and allowed 66 hits, 28 runs, 17 earned runs, with 21 walks and 76 strikeouts
*He has already set the Alabama freshman record with 88 2.3 innings pitched and needs four strikeouts to set the freshman strikeout record (79 K by Al Drumheller in 1991)
*Alabama held LSU to just 13 runs and 20 hits in the three-game series, the Tigers' lowest offensive output in any SEC series this year
ALABAMA BASEBALL NOTEBOOK
Alabama enters the week with a 26-20 (.565) overall record, including a 7-14 (.333) mark in SEC play ... Alabama has lost all seven SEC series this season ... The Crimson Tide has now lost 10 straight series dating back to last year ... The Crimson Tide's last series win was a three-game sweep of No. 15 Arkansas on April 25-27, 2003 ... The current streak of 10 straight SEC series losses is the longest in school history ... Alabama has also lost 11 straight SEC road series dating back to the 2002 season ... The 11 series losses have come against Georgia (2002, 2004), LSU (2002, 2004), Florida (2003), Auburn (2003), Ole Miss (2003), Tennessee (2003), Miss. State (2003), Arkansas (2004) and South Carolina (2004) ... The Crimson Tide dropped two out of three this past weekend at No. 6 LSU, its fourth of five consecutive weekends against Top 25 teams ... Alabama hosts the SEC East-leading Florida Gators this weekend in Tuscaloosa, to close out the stretch of five consecutive ranked SEC opponents ... Alabama is 7-12 (.368) against ranked teams this season, including wins over three Top 10 foes (Ole Miss, S. Carolina and LSU) ... Alabama posted a 2-2 (.500) record last week and batted .338 (44-for-130) in four games last week and outscored the opposition, 21-15 ... The Crimson Tide pitching staff went 2-2 with a 2.56 ERA this week ... In the three-game series at LSU, Alabama batted .319 (30-for-94) and actually out-hit the SECs top-hitting team (.230, 20-for-87) despite losing two of the three games ... UA's pitching staff compiled a 2.58 ERA in the LSU series ... In the Sunday double-header loss, Alabama walked 10 LSU batters, made three errors and hit into five double plays in losing 2-1 (8 innings) and 9-2 ... The Crimson Tide held the hot-hitting Tigers to 13 runs and 20 hits in the three-game series, the lowest offensive production by the Tigers in an SEC series this season ... LSU's previous low was 14 runs and 24 hits in a series win at Auburn ... Junior LF Gabe Scott (4x9, .444) and sophomore 3B Evan Bush (4x10,. 400) were a combined 8-for-19 (.422) in the LSU series ... In the four games last week, junior CF Matt Grooms (7x10, .700, 4 RBI), Bush (6x14, .429, 2 RBI), Scott (5x12, .417, RBI) and junior 1B Zac Welch (6x15, .400, 6 RBI) were a combined 24-for-51 (.471) with one home run and 13 RBI in four games ... Bush (9x24, .375), Grooms (11x17, .647) and Scott (8x24, .333) all enter the week with seven-game hitting streaks ... The trio has combined to hit .431 (28-for-65) with 13 runs scored and nine RBI in those seven games ... Alabama's three freshmen outfielders -- Brandon Belcher (6x15, .400, RBI), Emeel Salem (4x14, .286, 5 RBI) and Michael McCallister (5x14, .357, 2 RBI) -- are all riding four-game hitting streaks ... During the past four games, the three rookies have combined to hit .349 (15-for-43) with 10 runs scored and eight RBI ... Scott (7x21, .333) has a six-game SEC hitting streak, while Grooms (7x10, .700, 5 R, 3 RBI) and Bush (6x18, .333) have hit safely in five straight SEC games ... Junior first baseman Zac Welch had six RBI in four games last week and now has 101 RBI in his UA career ... He collected his 100th career RBI with a two-run double in the Crimson Tide's 8-2 win at LSU (May 1) ... Alabama continues to lead the SEC with a 2.93 ERA this season ... Junior LHP Taylor Tankersley (2-3, 1.40 ERA) leads the league with a 1.40 ERA this season ... Tankersley has allowed only one earned run in his last 24 1/3 innings (0.37 ERA) on the mound ... Freshman LHP Wade LeBlanc (6-3, 1.73 ERA) ranks second in the SEC with a 1.73 ERA this season ... LeBlanc recorded his SEC-leading sixth complete game at LSU this past weekend ... The Lake Charles, La., native has already set the Alabama single-season record for most innings pitched (88 2/3 IP) by a freshman ... The previous record was 84 1/3 innings by current volunteer assistant coach B.J. Green set in 1998 ... LeBlanc has 76 strikeouts this season and needs three more to tie the freshman record of 79 strikeouts set by Al Drumheller in 1991 ... The record for freshman victories is eight held by Tankersley (2001), Scott Murphy (1999) and Green (1998) ... LeBlanc has six wins this season ... The Crimson Tide has recorded 26 quality starts (6 IP, 3 ER or less) this season, including a team-leading nine quality starts from LeBlanc ... Alabama has lost both extra inning games this season and has dropped three straight extra inning games, dating back to 2002 ... The current three-game extra inning losing streak is the longest since 1990-94 when UA dropped four straight extra inning games ...
