Notebooking Alabama Baseball

Friday, June 24, 2005

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Jim Wells

Alabama (40-23, 17-13 SEC) posted its 12th, 40-win season in school history this season. Other 40-win campaigns include 1981 (41-15-1), 1983 (46-11), 1986 (43-20), 1991 (42-20), 1995 (42-23), 1996 (50-19), 1997 (56-14), 1998 (46-18), 1999 (53-16), 2000 (41-24), 2002 (51-15) and 2005 (40-23). Alabama also won 37 regular season games, the sixth-most in the Wells era.
Head Coach Jim Wells has compiled a 478-225 (.680) record in 703 games with the Crimson Tide. Wells will enter the 2006 season just 10 wins shy of becoming the school's all-time winningest baseball coach. Dr. Barry Shollenberger (1980-94) is currently the school's all-time win leader with a 487-334-1 (.582) record. Overall, Wells has compiled a 670-314 (.681) all-time record in 984 career games. He enters the 2006 season just 16 games shy of the 1,000 mark for his 16-year coaching career.
The Crimson Tide played in its 17th NCAA Regional this season and finished second in the 2005 New Orleans Regional hosted by the national No. 1 seed Tulane Green Wave. Alabama went 2-2 in the New Orleans Regional and now has a 42-24 (.636) all-time record in NCAA Regional play, including five championships.
Under coach Wells, Alabama has compiled a 26-12 (.684) record in NCAA Regional play. Wells has taken nine of his 11 Alabama teams to the post-season. In those nine NCAA Regional appearances, Alabama has played in the championship game eight times and won five three titles. Alabama is now 5-8 (.386) all-time in its 13 NCAA Regional championship game appearances.
Alabama was 17-17 (.500) against teams in the NCAA Regionals this season. The Crimson Tide posted a 3-7 (.300) record against teams in the NCAA Super Regionals and was 1-2 (vs. Florida) against the College World Series field. Alabama and Tennessee did not play each other during the 2005 season.
Senior first baseman Zac Welch, freshman shortstop Cale Iorg and sophomore pitcher Wade LeBlanc were all named to the New Orleans Regional All-Tournament team.
Welch batted .438 (7-for-16) in four games with two runs scored, two doubles, one home run and seven RBI. He had four hits and four RBI in the championship game. He had two hits and three RBI in the first-round win over UL Lafayette.
Welch tied the Alabama NCAA regional record with four hits in the game against Tulane. Welch had three singles, one double and four RBI in the loss. He is the ninth player to have a four-hit game in an NCAA Regional.
Iorg batted .294 (5-for-17) with one double, one triple, one home run and two RBI in his first regional appearance for the Tide.
LeBlanc pitched in two games and earned one win on the mound and recorded 12 strikeouts in nine innings.
Junior RHP Jordan Davis was left off the All-Tournament team, but received praise from coach Wells for his performance at the Regional. Davis appeared in all four games and worked 5 1/3 innings and allowed one run and four hits, with five strikeouts. He earned the save in the Tide's first round win over UL Lafayette.
Alabama posted a 17-13 record in SEC play this season to finish third in the SEC Western Division and fifth in the overall standings. Alabama was a consensus fifth place pick in the SEC Western Division by the preseason prognosticators. Bama's 17-13 record in 2005 was a seven-game improvement from the 2004 season that saw Alabama finish last in SEC West and 11th overall with a 10-20 league mark.
Alabama won six of its 10 SEC series in 2005 after winning only one series in 2004.
Alabama went 1-2 in the 2005 SEC Tournament and did not make the "Final Four" for the first time under coach Wells. The Crimson Tide has won six SEC titles in Wells 11 years and has finished in the top four year it has made the post-season tournament with the exception of this year.
Alabama has compiled a 2,180-1,279-23 (.630) all-time baseball record since the 1892 season. The Crimson Tide has played 3,482 baseball games since its inaugural season.
Senior LF Gabe Scott was a First-Team All-SEC selection by the SEC Coaches and SEBaseball.com. Scott was also a Second-Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America selection as he graduated with honors from the Capstone with a Finance degree on May 7, 2005. Scott also represented the baseball as a nominee for the Paul W. Bryant Scholar-Athlete award. During the season, Scott posted a 27-game hitting streak, tying David Magadan for the third-longest, single-season hitting streak in Bama annals. Scott also reached base safely in 41 straight games from Feb. 25 through May 14.
Freshman RHP David Robertson was named to the 2005 Louisville Slugger/Collegiate Baseball newspaper Freshman All-America team. The Tuscaloosa native was also a Freshman All-SEC pick by the SEC Coaches and SEBaseball.com.
Robertson also set the Alabama single-season freshman record with 105 strikeouts this season. The previous record was 98 set by Wade LeBlanc in 2004. Robertson also set the single-season
Freshman SS Cale Iorg was named to the SEC Coaches and SEBaseball.com Freshman All-SEC team this season. Iorg will miss the next two seasons at Alabama while participating in a mission with with the Mormon church. He leaves for the mission on August 17, 2005.
The Crimson Tide baseball team received the 2005 University of Alabama Outstanding Community Outreach Award for most hours of community service. Senior DH Allen Rice was responsible for the bulk of the hours and was named to the 2005 SEC Good Works Team for the second consecutive year. Rice was also named the winner of the Alabama Community Outreach Award and was the Crimson Tide's nominee for the 2005 SEC Community Service Scholarship.
Alabama trailed in 48 of 63 games during the 2005 season and posted 25 come-from-behind wins.
Alabama was 9-9 in one-run games during the 2005 season.

University of Alabama Athletics

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