Alabama Crimson Tide Baseball Notebook
4/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Overall Record: 27-12 (.692)
SEC Record: 10-5 (.667) (1st West; T2nd Overall)
Streak: 11-4 in last 15 Games
Last Week: 2-2 (.500)
April 12 - Alabama 5, SE Louisiana 4 (Hammond)
April 14 - LSU 7, Alabama 6 (Baton Rouge)
April 15 - LSU 8, Alabama 6 (Baton Rouge)
April 16 - Alabama 17, LSU 6 (Baton Rouge)
This Week:
April 19 -- Mississippi Valley State (6:30 PM)
April 21 -- Vanderbilt (6:30 PM)
April 22 -- Vanderbilt (4 PM)
April 23 -- Vanderbilt (2:06 PM) (ACN Sports)
Player of the Week:
Kody Valverde (C, Sr., 6-0, 210, Baton Rouge)
STATS: 4 G, 3 GS, .500 (7-14), HR, 6 RBI, 7 R, 3 2B
at LSU: 3 GS, .538 (7-13), HR, 6 RBI, 7 R, 3 2B
*Valverde went 4-for-4 with four runs scored, two doubles and four RBI in the Crimson TIde’s 17-6 win at LSU on April 16.
*The four hits, four runs scored and four RBI were all career highs for the Baton Rouge native.
*Valverde had an RBI single in the Tide’s five-run first inning and another RBI single in a five-run third inning. He added an RBI double in the sixth and seventh innings.
*Valverde had two hits, including a solo home run, in game two of the series.
*He had one hit, two walks and scored two runs in the series opener.
Freshman of the Week:
Alex Avila (DH, Fr., 0-0, 000, Hialeah, Fla.)
STATS: 4 GS, .438 (7-16), 7 R, 2 HR, 6 RBI
at LSU: 3 GS, .500 (6-12), 6 R, HR, 6 RBI
*Avila had both game-winning RBI this week for Alabama. His solo home run in the sixth inning gave the Tide a 5-4 win at SE Louisiana on April 12. His first inning single plated the winning run in a blowout win over LSU on April 16.
*Avila was 6-for-12 in the LSU series with six runs scored, one home run and six RBI
*He went 4-for-5 with four runs scored and four RBI in the Tide’s 17-6 win at LSU.
*The four hits, four runs and four RBI were all career highs.
ALABAMA BASEBALL NOTEBOOK
*Alabama (27-12, 10-5 SEC) leads the SEC Western Division at the midpoint of the SEC season for the second straight year and the third time (2002, 2005 and 2006) in the last five years. The Crimson Tide owns a two-game lead over second place Arkansas and a 2 1/2 game lead over Miss. State. In the overall SEC standings, Alabama is tied with Vanderbilt for second place and is one-game behind league leader South Carolina after 15 games.
*The Crimson Tide went 4-3 (.571) on its recently completed seven-game road trip, including six games against Top 20 teams. Alabama won two of three at No. 1 South Carolina (April 7-9) and posted a midweek road win at SE Louisiana (April 12) before dropping two of three at No. 20 LSU this past weekend.
*Alabama batted .321 (81-for-252) on the road trip with 12 home runs and 51 RBI. Six players hit over .350 on the seven-game trip, including Kody Valverde (.423, 2 HR, 8 RBI), Matt Downs (.393, 2 HR, 8 RBI), Alex Avila (.379, 2 HR, 7 RBI), Greg Paiml (.360, 2 HR, 3 RBI) and Brandon Belcher (.357, HR, 5 RBI). Evan Bush led UA with three home runs and seven RBI on the trip. Alabama made only three errors in four games this week for a .979 fielding mark.
*Bama hit .338 (52-for-154) in its four game in Louisiana last week, with nine home runs and 32 RBI. At LSU, the Crimson Tide hit a whopping .390 (48-for-123) with seven home runs and 27 RBI in three games. Bama made three errors in the LSU series and fielded .971 on the weekend.
*Alabama suffered its first SEC series loss of the 2006 season by dropping the first two games at LSU. The Crimson Tide has lost five straight series at Alex Box Stadium (1998, 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006) and has not won a series in Baton Rouge since 1996. The Crimson Tide also owns a four-game losing streak at Alex Box Stadium, dating back to the 2004 season.
*Alabama tallied a season-high 17 runs and 27 hits in its 17-6 win over LSU in the series finale on Sunday. The 17 runs were the most by Alabama since a 19-0 win over Auburn on April 19, 2004. The 27 hits were the most by Alabama since a 28-hit attack at UAB on April 14, 1999 in Birmingham. The Crimson Tide hit an NCAA record 13 home runs in that 30-4 win at UAB. Alabama also had 28 hits in a 28-2 win over No. 1 LSU in 1997.
*All nine starters had at least two hits in the lopsided win over LSU. The hit breakdown included 18 singles, six doubles and three home runs under windy conditions at Alex Box Stadium. The two teams combined for 37 hits, including 16 extra base hits as the winds gusted to 30 mph out to center field.
*The middle of the Crimson Tide’s batting order -- Avila, Valverde and Evan Bush -- were a combined 12-for-14 with 11 runs scored and 12 RBI in the 17-6 win over LSU. Avila was 4-for-4 and scored four runs as he batted third in the order for the first time this season. Valverde went 4-for-5 with two doubles, four runs scored and four RBI. Bush had the biggest day on offense going 4-for-5 with three runs scored, two home runs and seven RBI.
*Bush recorded his third career multi home run game on Sunday at LSU. He also hit two home runs against UL Lafayette in the 2005 NCAA New Orleans Regional and earlier this season against Ole Miss. Bush is the first UA player to have seven RBI in a game since Beau Hearod had seven RBI in win over UMass on March 9, 2003.
*Alabama opened the game with seven consecutive hits, falling one short of the single-game UA record, to take a 5-0 lead and knock Derik Olvey out of the game before the Pelham, Ala., native could record an out. Salem led off with a double and moved to third on Downs’ single to right.
*Bama opened the game with seven consecutive hits, missing the school record for consecutive hits in an inning by one. The Crimson Tide had eight straight hits in an inning against Samford (April 17, 1991), Alcorn State (April 5, 1994) and St. Louis (March 8, 1994). The eight straight hits against Samford in 1991 were the first eight batters of the game. The Alcorn State and St. Louis games were both in the seventh inning. The near-record setting inning consisted of seven hits from Salem (double), Downs (single), Avila (RBI single), Valverde (RBI single), Bush (3-run HR), Belcher (single) and Pennington (single). Rhoden’s sac bunt ended the streak of seven straight hits.
*Brandon Belcher hit his first home run of the season and third in his career at LSU on Sunday. His two-run home run in the Tide’s four-run seventh inning was his first since the 2004 season, a span of 66 games and 152 at-bats, dating back to April 16, 2003.
*Junior left-hander Wade LeBlanc has two no decisions in his last two starts on the mound. In those two starts, he has allowed 12 runs and 17 hits in 13 2/3 innings, with 10 walks and 11 strikeouts. He walked only nine batters in his first 60 innings of the 2006 season. He has nine walks in last 13 2/3 innings. He made his 38th career start on Friday night to tie Brent Carter (2002-05) and Mike Innes (1968-71) for sixth place all-time. His five strikeouts gives him 280 career strikeouts at Alabama. He is nine away from tying Lance Cormier (1999-2002) for second place all time with 289 strikeouts. He is also 27 strikeouts shy of Carter’s all-time record of 307 punchouts.
*Downs went 4-for-4 with one RBI in the loss to LSU. The four hits are a career-high for the senior. His previous best was three hits against Ole Miss (Mar. 25, 2006) and Morehead State (2004). Downs is the second UA player with four hits in a game this year, joining David Ferazza (4-for-5) against Lipscomb on March 29.
*The last UA player to go 4-for-4 in a game was Zac Welch (4-for-4, 4 RBI) against Tulane on June 6, 2005 at the NCAA New Orleans Regional.
*Downs hit his third home run of the season and second in SEC play in the second inning. Downs has hit two home runs in his last three SEC games.
*Avila homered in back-to-back games at SE Louisiana (April 12) and LSU (April 14).
*Junior SS Greg Paiml hit his second home run of the season with one out in the top of the third inning on Saturday. It was his second home run of the season and both have come in the last seven games. He hit his first home run of 2006 to lead off the ninth inning at South Carolina on April 7. That solo home run snapped a 52-game and 157 at-bat homerless streak that dated back to April 10, 2005.
*The Crimson Tide returns home this Wednesday, April 19 as they host Mississippi Valley State in a 6:30 p.m. game at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. After a seven-game road trip, Alabama will be playing at home for the first time since April 5. The Crimson Tide also home the next two weekends in SEC play against Vanderbilt (April 21-23) and Auburn (April 28-30).
