Alabama Crimson Tide Baseball Notebook
3/27/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
SEC Record: 5-1 (.833) (T1st Overall; 1st SEC West)
Streak: Won 3
Last Week: 3-1 (.750)
March 22 -- Troy 8, Alabama 5
March 24 -- Alabama 12, Ole Miss 2
March 25 -- Alabama 9, Ole Miss 8 (10 innings)
March 26 -- Alabama 9, Ole Miss 2
This Week:
March 29 -- vs. Lipscomb (6:30 PM)
March 24 -- vs. No. 1 Miss. State (6:30 PM)
March 25 -- vs. No. 1 Miss. State (3 PM) (FSNS)
March 26 -- vs. No. 1 Miss. State (2 PM)
Player of the Week Nomination:
3 Greg Paiml (Jr., SS, 6-0, 185, Hoover, Alabama)
Stats: 4 G, 4-for-15; 3 R, 2 2B, 5 RBI, 2 BB
vs. Ole Miss: 3 G, .400 (4-for-10), 3 R, 2 2B, 5 RBI, 2 BB
*Paiml went for 4-for-10 in the Tide’s series sweep of Ole Miss. It was the first sweep by the Crimson Tide over the Rebels since 1997 and first in Tuscaloosa since 1991
*Paiml broke open a tight game with a three-run double in the bottom of the first inning in the series opener that gave a Tide a 6-1 lead en route to a 12-2 win setting the tone for the weekend
*He ripped a game-winning double in the bottom of the 10th inning to score Brandon Belcher to give the Tide a 9-8 comeback win and clinch the series on Saturday. Before his game-winning RBI in the 10th inning, Paiml had gone 0-for-4 in the game with three strikeouts and made two errors in the field.
*For the season, he is batting .275 (25-for-91) in 27 starts at shortstop, with 21 runs scored and 19 RBI. He has also added six doubles and two triples.
Freshman of the Week Nomination:
33 Tommy Hunter (Fr., RHP, 6-5, 250, Indianapolis, Ind.)
Stats: 1 GS, 1-0, 2.00 ERA, 9 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K)
*Hunter picked up his first career SEC win as the Crimson Tide pulled off the three-game sweep of Ole Miss.
*Hunter faced just six batters over the minimum en route to his first career complete game.
*After allowing a two-run home run to Justin Brashear with no outs in the third inning, Hunter blanked the Rebels on just five hits over the final seven innings
*He won the duel with long-time summer league teammate Lance Lynn, the Ole Miss freshman from Brownsburg, Ind., a suburb of Indy.
*The win over Ole Miss was Hunter’s first win since beating South Alabama in Mobile on March 8
*For the season, Hunter is 4-2 with a 3.27 ERA in nine appearances and five starts. He has one of the Tide’s three complete games this season.
BAMA BASEBALL NOTEBOOK:
*Alabama (19-8, 5-1 SEC) is coming off a three-game sweep of Ole Miss (W 12-2, 9-8, 9-2) this past weekend in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide recorded their first sweep over the Rebels since 1997 and their first in Tuscaloosa since 1991. Alabama has won back-to-back series with Ole Miss for the first time since 1997-98. In addition, UA has won five of the last six regular season meetings with the Rebels.
*Alabama leads the SEC Western Division by one-half game over Miss. State (4-1 SEC). The Crimson Tide and Vanderbilt Commodores sit atop the overall league standings with 5-1 SEC records.
*The Crimson Tide hit .354 (35-for-99) in the weekend series against the Rebels, with three home runs and 26 RBI. Bama averaged 10 runs and 11.7 hits per game against UM. The 30 runs scored were the most by Alabama in an SEC series since a three-game sweep of Arkansas in 2002 when UA also scored 30 runs in a three-game SEC series.
*In 27 games, Alabama is batting .269 (244-for-907) with 18 home runs and 150 RBI. UA averages 6.1 runs and 9.03 hits per game this season. Junior CF Emeel Salem is the Tide’s leading hitter with a .342 (38-for-111) and leads UA with 25 runs scored and 17 stolen bases. Senior catcher Kody Valverde is second on the team with a .322 (29-for-90) with a team-high seven home runs and 28 RBI.
*Valverde tied the Alabama single-game record with four walks in the series finale against Ole Miss.
*Senior 3B Matt Downs (Centreville) batted .462 (6-for-13) against Ole Miss, with five runs scored and three RBI.
*Senior 2B Evan Bush (Rainbow City) hit .385 (5-for-13) against Ole Miss, with four runs, two home runs and six RBI. Bush cracked two home runs in the series opener, his second career multi homer game. His second inning home run was his first since Feb. 14.
*Senior 1B Spencer Pennington (Fayette) hit .364 (4-for-11) in the Ole Miss series to raise his season average to .302 (19-for-69) in 22 games.
*Salem is riding a 10-game hitting streak, his longest of the season and second-longest of his career. During the streak, Salem is batting .419 (18-for-43) with eight runs scored and eight RBI. He has five multiple hit games, including three three-hit games.
*Junior Brandon Belcher was 3-for-9 (.333) against Ole Miss, with three runs scored and two RBI. Since March 3, Belcher has hit safely in 11 of his last 13 games.
*Alabama pitchers were 3-0 with one complete game and a 3.54 ERA this weekend. The Tide staff recorded 27 strikeouts and nine walks in 28 innings on the mound.
*The UA staff is 19-8 this season with six saves, three complete games and a 2.89 ERA. Bama pitchers have worked 242.2 innings and allowed 201 hits, 94 runs and 78 earned runs, with 69 walks and 214 strikeouts. Junior LHP Wade LeBlanc is 5-0 with a 1.71 ERA in seven starts. He has six complete games and ranks third in the SEC with 55 strikeouts in 52.2 innings. Junior RHP Bernard Robert is 3-1 with a 2.72 ERA in six starts. Alabama is 5-1 in those six starts, including two SEC wins over No. 23 Georgia and Ole Miss. Freshman RHP Tommy Hunter is 4-2 with 3.27 ERA in nine appearances and five starts. He threw his first complete game and notched his first career SEC win against Ole Miss in the series finale.
*The Crimson Tide is 19-8 (.703) after 27 games this season compared to a 20-7 after 27 games last year.
*Alabama is 5-1 in SEC play, its best start since the 2002 season when UA started 6-1 in league play.
*The Crimson Tide has won its first two SEC series with No. 23 Georgia and Ole Miss. The last time UA won its first two SEC series was 2002 when they downed Tennessee and Arkansas to open league play.
*Alabama notched its 1,000th all-time win at Sewell-Thomas Stadium with its 12-2 win over Ole Miss on March 24. The Crimson Tide has posted a 1,003-427-1 (.702) record in 1,431 games since the park opened on March 26, 1948. The ballpark celebrated its 58th birthday on Sunday with a 9-2 win over the Rebels.
*The Crimson Tide will take on first-time foe Lipscomb this Wednesday, March 29 at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. Lipscomb will be the fourth first-time opponent the Tide has faced this season.
*Alabama remains at home next weekend to host the No. 1 ranked Miss. State Bulldogs (19-1, 4-1 SEC). The Crimson Tide and Bulldogs will kickoff the 2006 SEC Game of Week schedule on FSN South at 3:07 p.m. (CT) on Saturday, April 1. The MSU series is a part of the Crimson Tide’s annual A-Day weekend festivities. The annual “Fan Day” will take place at Coleman Coliseum from 9-11 a.m., with the Walk-of-Fame ceremony at Denny Chimes later that morning. The A-Day game will kickoff at 1:30 p.m.
*The Crimson Tide will be hosting the No. 1 ranked team at the Joe for the first time since May 00-00, 1997 when they took two of three from top-ranked LSU. Overall, Alabama is 9-10 (.474) all-time against the No. 1 ranked team in the land. Alabama lost two games at No. 1 Tulane last season in the NCAA New Orleans Regional at Turchin Stadium.
*Dating back to 1985, Alabama has won its last four series with the No. 1 team, including series wins over Miami (Fla.) (1985), at Miss. State (1989), at Auburn (1995) and LSU (1997).
*Alabama owns a 196-163-3 all-time record over Miss. State. The two teams, located just 88 miles apart, first met in 1896. MSU has won the last three series with Alabama, including a three-game sweep in Tuscaloosa to close out the 2004 season. MSU has won seven of the last nine meetings with UA. Alabama’s last series win was a three-game sweep of Miss. State in 2002.
