Alabama Crimson Tide Baseball Weekly Report
3/7/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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Overall Record: 12-3 (.800)
Current Streak: Won 7 Straight Games; Won 11 of 12 since Feb 13th
Last Week: 4-0 (1.000)
Alabama 8, Samford 4 (March 2)
Alabama 4, McNeese State 0 (March 4)
Alabama 3, McNeese State 2 (March 5)
Alabama 23, McNeese State 1 (March 6)
This Week:
March 9 - vs. Birmingham Southern (6:30 PM)
March 11 - vs. Miami (Ohio) (6:30 PM)
March 12 - vs. Miami (Ohio) (4 PM)
March 13 - vs. Miami (Ohio) (2 PM)
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Evan Bush (INF, Jr., Rainbow City, Alabama)
Stats: 4 G, .357 (5-for-14), 5 R, 2B, 3 HR, 7 RBI
Notes:
- Bush hit one home run in three of the four games last week for Alabama
- Recorded two game-winning RBI in those four games
- Slugged two-run home run in 5th inning to give UA a 5-3 lead against Samford in an eventual 8-4 win
- Snapped a 2-2 tie with solo home run in fourth inning against McNeese State as UA posted a 3-2 win in game two of weekend series
- Recorded his first career grand slam in seven-run, second inning in series finale on Sunday
- Homered in back-to-back games vs. McNeese State for first time in his UA career
- For the season, Bush is batting .300 (15-for-50) and leads UA with four home runs and 18 RBI in 14 games. He is on pace for 16 home runs and 72 RBI this season as the Tide has played one-fourth of its season schedule.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Wade LeBlanc (LHP, So., Lake Charles, La.)
Stats: 1 GS, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 7.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 17 K
Notes:
- Combined with Jordan Davis for one-hit shutout in series opener with McNeese State as led the Tide to a 4-0 win against the future No. 1 draft pick Jacob Marceaux
- LeBlanc notched a career-high 17 strikeouts in the win
- The 17 strikeouts fell one short of the Alabama single-game record
- LeBlanc left the game after throwing 122 pitches in 7 2/3 innings on a chilly night in Tuscaloosa
- At one point in the game, LeBlanc struck out 11 of 14 McNeese State hitters from the third through the seventh inning. He struck out three batters in the fifth and sixth innings as he posted a career-high for strikeouts.
- In his last two starts, LeBlanc has 30 strikeouts in 14 2/3 innings. He fanned 13 batters last weekend in a win over Duquesne.
- LeBlanc, who hails from Lake Charles and originally signed with McNeese State, recorded his fifth shutout at Alabama and first of the 2005 season. He has three complete-game shutouts and two combined shutouts in his UA career.
- The win was also his 10th career win at Alabama in 15 career decisions.
- LeBlanc and RHP Jordan Davis closed out the game with 7 2/3 hitless innings and retired 21 of the last 23 McNeese State batters.
ALABAMA NOTEBOOK:
*Alabama (12-3, .800) enters the week with a seven-game winning streak, its longest of the season and longest since winning seven straight games from Feb. 20-March 3, 2004.
*During the seven-game winning streak, Alabama is batting .321 (75-for-234) with nine home runs and 52 RBI. On the mound, UA is 7-0, with three saves and 1.14 ERA (63 IP, 8 ER). Bama pitchers have 99 strikeouts in those seven
games.
*The Crimson Tide hit only one home run in its first eight games of the 2005 season. Alabama has nine homers in the last seven games.
*In addition, Alabama has won 11 of its last 12 games, dating back to Feb. 13.
*In its last 12 games, Bama is batting .326 (131-for-402) with 10 home runs and 75 RBI. The Tide is averaging 7.3 runs and 10.9 hits in its last 12 games. On the mound, Bama is 11-1 with four saves and a 1.26 ERA since Feb. 13. UA pitchers have 150 strikeouts in 107 innings.
*Alabama is 12-0 this season when scoring three or more runs.
*Alabama has won all 10 home games this year.
*Sophomore left-hander Wade LeBlanc struck out a career-high 17 batters in the 4-0 win over McNeese State (March 4). The 17 strikeouts are the second-highest single-game total in Bama annals. The school record is 18 strikeouts by Mike Innes against Stillman College in 1969. Innes fanned 18 batters in the win.
*LeBlanc left the game after 7 2/3 innings having thrown 122 pitches. He allowed only one hit and walked two batters. LeBlanc fanned James Thibodeaux and Chad Carnahan in the eighth before turning the game over to Jordan Davis.
*Senior center fielder Matt Grooms led off the March 5 game against McNeese State with a solo home run. It was the first lead off home run by the Crimson Tide since Scott McClanahan led off the game against Austin Peay on April 2, 2002.
*The solo home run was Grooms’ first home run of the season and second of his career. It was his first home run since April 4, 2004 at Arkansas, a span of 30 games and 77 at-bats.
*Junior RHP T.J. Large (4 GS, 4-0, 1.01 ERA, 29.2 IP, 39 K) won his SEC-leading fourth game of the season March 5 against McNeese State. The Seminole, Fla., native worked seven innings and allowed two runs and five hits, with two walks and 11 strikeouts. He has 11 strikeouts in each of his last three starts for the Crimson Tide.
*In the three-game series with McNeese State, Alabama batted .340 (35-for-103) with four home runs and 27 RBI. The UA offense tallied four runs and seven hits in the opener against ace Jacob Marceaux in a shutout win.
*On the mound, Bama held McNeese State to just three runs and 10 hits in the weekend series and recorded 46 strikeouts in the three games.
*The 46 strikeouts against McNeese State are the most in a three-game series in the Jim Wells era. The previous was 44 last week against Duquesne. In those two weekends, Bama has racked up 90 strikeouts in six games.
*The Crimson Tide’s 23-1 victory over McNeese State is the largest margin of victory since a 27-5 win over Kansas State on March 23, 1999 at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The 22-run margin of victory is the fourth-most lopsided win in the Jim Wells era.
*Alabama’s 23 runs in the series finale with McNeese State are the most since a 26-7 win at Kentucky on March 18,2001 in Lexington.
*Alabama’s 19 hits in the Sunday win over McNeese are the most since rapping out 19 hits in a 19-0 win over Auburn on April 18, 2004 in Tuscaloosa.
*Sophomore Greg Paiml replaced Rice in the line up and turned in a career day at the plate. Paiml went 4-for-6, with two runs scored and five RBI in the 23-1 win over McNeese State. He drove in the first two runs of the game with a two-run double in the Tide’s seven-run second inning. He added a two-run triple in the seventh and added an RBI single in the Crimson Tide’s six-run eighth inning.
*Paiml’s four hits and five RBI are both career highs. The four hits surpasses his previous total of three set against South Alabama on March 31, 2004 in Mobile. The five RBI eclipsed his previous total of three set last weekend against Duquesne.
*Junior third baseman Evan Bush went 2-for-3 in the win over McNeese State, including his first career grand slam in the Crimson Tide’s seven-run, second inning. Bush greeted MSU reliever Jason Bleeker and smashed his first pitch over the wall in left-center field to give Bama a 7-0 lead.
*Bush leads Alabama with four home runs and 18 this season. The Rainbow City native hit one home run and three of the Tide’s four games this week. He homered in the win over Samford (Mar. 2) and then added four-baggers in back-to-back games against McNeese State on March 5-6.
*Freshman shortstop Cale Iorg was 3-for-6 with three runs scored and two RBI in the win over MSU. He posted three hits in his final three at-bats, including an RBI single in the sixth and eighth innings. The three hits and two RBI were both career highs for the Knoxville, Tenn., native.
*Iorg tied an Alabama single-game record with two hits in the eighth inning on Sunday.
*Senior first baseman Zac Welch went 2-for-4 in the win over McNeese State and scored a career-high four runs. His previous high was three runs on three different occasions, most recently against SE Missouri State (Mar. 14) last year. Welch also slammed his first home run of the year with a solo blast in the sixth inning to give Alabama a 13-0 lead.
*Sophomore right fielder Michael McCallister went 2-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBI.
*The 7-8-9 hitters in the Alabama lineup was a combined 8-for-14 (.571) with nine runs scored, one double, one triple, one home run and nine RBI.
*Senior LHP Brent Carter threw six scoreless innings for his third straight win. The Americus, Ga., native allowed only two hits and struck out eight in the win over McNeese State. He retired 18 of the 20 batters he faced, including the first nine in-a-row.
*Freshman Josh Copeland pitched a career-high two innings in the win over McNeese State.
*Sophomore RHP Ian Moore made his Alabama debut with a scoreless ninth inning on Sunday. He hit one batter and recorded three strikeouts.
