Alabama Crimson Tide Baseball Weekly Report
4/25/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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Overall Record: 29-13 (.690)
SEC Record: 11-7 (.611) (1st SEC West, 2nd Overall)
Streak: Won 4 of last 5 games
Last Week: 3-1 (.750)
Alabama 12, Miss. Valley State 6
Alabama 6, South Carolina 4
Alabama 10, South Carolina 4
South Carolina 5, Alabama 2
This Week:
April 27 - vs. South Alabama (6:30 PM)
April 29 - vs. Georgia (6:36 PM) (ACN)
April 30 - vs. Georgia (4 PM)
May 1 - vs. Georgia (2:06 PM) (ACN)
PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOMINATION
Gabe Scott (OF, Sr., Lake Charles, La.)
4 G, 4 GS, .583 (7-for-12), 2 HR, 6 RBI, 5 R, 2B, 4 BB
*Scott continued to swing a hot bat for Alabama as he led the Tide at the plate for the fourth straight week.
*The senior batted .583 (7-for-12) in four games with two home runs and four RBI
*He was 2-for-2, including a solo home run, in the win over Miss. Valley State on April 20. He reached base four times in the game, including a pair of walks.
*In the series opener with South Carolina, Scott went 3-for-4 with a solo home run. His eighth inning home run gave Alabama a 4-2 lead en route to an eventual 6-4 win over the No. 8 Gamecocks.
*In the series finale, he went 2-for-2 and reached base all four times in the 5-2 loss.
*Scott was 0-for-4 on April 23 to see his career best 27-game hitting streak come to an end against South Carolina.
*He reached base 12 times in four games for a .706 on-base percentage. He also compiled a 1.167 slugging mark for the week.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK NOMINATION
Wade LeBlanc (LHP, So., Lake Charles, La.)
1 G, 1 GS, 1-0, 4.00 ERA, 1 CG (9 IP, 5 H, 4 R, BB, 3 K)
*Although his numbers are not his usual dominating pitching line, LeBlanc had little trouble with the No. 8 Gamecocks on April 23.
*The sophomore tossed his first complete game of the season in his third start since a shoulder injury sidelined him for four weeks. It was his ninth career CG at Alabama.
*After allowing a two-run double to second baseman Chris Brown with two outs in the fourth inning, LeBlanc then retired the next 14 batters in order before he allowed a one-out, solo home run to senior 1B Steve Pearce in the ninth inning.
*LeBlanc recorded 19 fly outs or pop outs in the win over South Carolina. At one point in the game, South Carolina had eight consecutive fly outs or pop ups.
*LeBlanc allowed only six base runners the entire game against the Gamecocks.
ALABAMA NOTEBOOK:
*Alabama (29-13, 11-7 SEC) took two out of three from No. 8 South Carolina this weekend and concluded month-long stretch where they played four consecutive Top 10 teams. The Crimson Tide won three of those four series, including wins over No. 4 LSU (April 1-3), No. 9 Ole Miss (April 8-10) and No. 8 South Carolina (April 22-24). Bama dropped two games to No. 5 Florida (April 15-17).
*Alabama posted a 7-5 record against those four Top 10 teams. Overall, Alabama is 8-7 against ranked teams this season. The Crimson Tide played five of its first six SEC series against Top 25 teams.
*Alabama notched its first series win over South Carolina since the 2001 season.
*The Crimson Tide has as many wins season as they did all of last season. Alabama finished the 2004 season with a disappointing 29-26 overall record and missed the post-season for just the second time in the Coach Jim Wells era.
*Alabama maintains its lead in the SEC Western Division and moved into second place in the overall standings this weekend as No. 16 Tennessee dropped two games at Vanderbilt. Alabama and Tennessee do not play each other this season. Alabama owns a one game lead over LSU (10-8) and has a 1 1/2 game lead over Miss. State (9-8) in the Western Division. The Crimson Tide has a two-game lead over Ole Miss (9-9) and a three-game lead over Auburn (8-10) and Arkansas (8-10). In the overall race, Alabama trails Florida by two games.
*Alabama has more SEC wins (11) this season than it did all of last year (10). The Crimson Tide was 10-20 in league play last season and finished sixth in the Western Division and 11th overall.
*Alabama has won all three home series this season after losing all five home series a year ago. The Crimson Tide is 7-2 (.777) in SEC home games this season. Last year, Alabama posted a 4-11 home record in league play.
*The Crimson Tide batted .331 (41-for-133) in four games last week with eight home runs and 25 RBI. Against South Carolina, Alabama hit .266 (25-for-94) with five home runs and 14 RBI.
*Alabama senior LF Gabe Scott had his career best 27-game hitting streak snapped in the 10-4 win over South Carolina on April 23. Scott (0-for-4) struck out twice and grounded into a double play to end the eighth inning. After the double play, Scott was given a standing ovation by the UA fans at the Joe. The 27-game hitting streak was tied for the third-longest in Alabama history with David Magadan , who hit safely in the first 27 games of his UA career as a true freshman in 1981.
*Alabama has hit 40 home runs in 42 games this season, compared to 38 home runs in 55 games last year. Junior 1B/3B Evan Bush leads the way with 12 home runs, while senior LF Gabe Scott is second on the team with nine home runs. Bush led UA with eight home runs last season.
*The Crimson Tide matched its season high with three home runs against South Carolina on April 23. UA has hit three home runs in a game five times this season. Bama also hit three home runs against Samford (Mar. 2), Ole Miss (April 10), Memphis (April 12) and Miss. Valley State (April 20).
*Alabama has homered in 12 of 14 games this month and has hit 23 home runs in those 14 games.
*The Crimson Tide has trailed in 30 of 42 games this season and has posted 17 come-from-behind wins. Of the 17 comeback wins, nine have taken place in the sixth inning or later.
*Alabama snapped a four-game Saturday losing streak with its 10-4 win over South Carolina on April 23. The Tide is 2-4 in six Saturday SEC games this year.
*Bama has its five-game Sunday winning streak snapped with a 5-2 loss in the series finale to Carolina. Alabama is 5-1 in Sunday SEC games this season. Last year, Alabama was 2-9 in Sunday SEC games and lost nine of 10 series.
*Senior DH Allen Rice broke up South Carolina RHP Zac McCamie’s no-hitter with a one-out single in the sixth inning on Sunday, April 24th. The base hit was Rice’s 200th career hit at Alabama. Rice played his 100th career SEC game in the series opener with South Carolina. He enters the Georgia series with 97 career SEC hits, three shy of the century mark.
*Freshman shortstop Cale Iorg (1-for-4) extended his hitting streak to a season-best nine games with a leadoff single in the seventh inning on Sunday, April 24th.
*Alabama junior RHP Jordan Davis made his first career start today for the Crimson Tide. He became the seventh different Sunday starting pitcher for Alabama this season. Davis struggled in his first career start as he allowed four runs and 10 hits in just 3 2/3 innings. He also added six strikeouts before exiting the game after a two-out single to Steven Tolleson in the fourth inning.
*Senior left-hander Brent Carter made his fifth appearance of the season out the bullpen in the loss to South Carolina. Carter worked 2 2/3 scoreless innings and allowed two hits, two walks and two strikeouts.
*Carter became just the second pitcher in Alabama history to record 300 career innings pitched. Carter has 301 career innings and joins Lance Cormier (1999-2002) as the only two UA pitchers with 300 innings. Cormier holds the UA career record with 381 innings pitched.
*Carter also made his 66th appearance on the mound to tie Jarrod Kingrey (1997-98) for sixth place on the school’s all-time list.
*With two strikeouts against South Carolina, Carter now has 278 in his Alabama career. He is 11 strikeouts shy of the all-time record (289) held by Cormier.
*Junior RHP T.J. Large (6-3, 2.40 ERA) won his sixth game of the season with a 6-4 win over No. 8 South Carolina. Large walked three of the first four batters he faced in the game and allowed two first-inning runs on Jon Williard’s two-out double to right center field.
*After the two-out double, Large did not allow another hit until back-to-back hits by Steven Tolleson and Steve Pearce in the ninth inning. Large 7 1/3 no-hit innings in the game. The Seminole, Fla., native gave up two hits in the ninth inning, including a two-run home run to Steve Pearce as USC cut the lead to 6-4.
*Large threw 24 pitches in the first inning, with only 10 strikes. He threw 87 pitches the remainder of the game.
*Freshman RHP David Robertson (6-3, 1.44 ERA, 3 SV) pitched a scoreless ninth inning on Friday, April 22 to earn his third save of the season. He has three of the Crimson Tide’s six saves this season. Robertson’s save was the first in an SEC game this year by Alabama.
