ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE BASEBALL NOTEBOOK
5/1/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Overall Record: 34-13 (.723)
SEC Record: 15-6 (.714) (1st Overall; 1st SEC West)
Streak: 8-1 in last 9 G; 5-1 in last 6 SEC G
Last Week: 2-1 (.667)
April 26 -- Alabama 14, UAB 8
April 28 -- Alabama 6, Auburn 5 (10)
April 29 -- Auburn 7, Alabama 6
April 30 -- Alabama 9, Auburn 1
This Week:
May 5 -- at Arkansas (7:05 PM)
May 6 -- at Arkansas (4:05 PM)
May 7 -- at Arkansas (12:35 PM)
Player of the Week:
Emeel Salem (OF, Jr., 6-0, 180, Mountain Brook, Alabama)
STATS: 4 GS, 13-for-17 (.765), 12 R, 2 2B, 2 3B, HR, 2 RBI
STATS: 3 GS, 8-for-11 (.727), 8 R, 2B, 3B, HR, RBI vs. Auburn
*Salem had a phenomanal week at the plate in leading the Crimson Tide to a 3-1 record in four games and its sixth SEC series win this year.
*In four games, he batted .765 (13-for-17) with 12 runs scored, 12 extra base hits, three stolen bases and two RBI. He compiled a whopping 1.294 slugging percentage (22 total bases) last week and an .818 on-base mark (reached base 18 time in 22 plate appearances).
*He scored winning run in all three Crimson Tide wins against UAB and Auburn (2 times).
*In the series win over arch-rival Auburn, Salem batted .727 (8-for-11) with eight runs scored, three extra base hits, two stolen bases and one RBI.
*In the Crimson Tide’s 14-8 over UAB at the Hoover Met on April 26, Salem went 5-for-6 and tied the Alabama single game record with five hits. He scored three runs, including the winning run in the eighth inning as UA erased an 8-5 deficit.
*Salem went 3-for-6 in the series opener against Auburn and his walk-off home run with two outs in the 10th inning gave UA the 6-5 win. He also scored two runs in the win.
*He was 1-for-1 with two runs scored and reached base all five times in game two of Auburn series.
*In the series-clinching finale, Salem was 4-for-4 and scored four runs in the 9-1 win. He reached base all five times in the series finale. Salem led off the third inning with a triple into the right field corner and scored the deciding run on Matt Downs’ RBI single to give UA the 1-0 lead.
*Salem enters the Arkansas series having reached base safely 11 consecutive times (6 hits, 4 walks, 1 HBP), dating back to Friday night’s walk-off home run. The UA record 14 consecutive times on base and the NCAA is 18 straight times on base.
*For the season, Salem is batting .382 (76-for-199) with two home runs and 22 RBI. He is also 26-for-33 in stolen bases and has scored 52 runs in 47 games.
*Salem leads the SEC in runs scored (52), hits (76), stolen bases (26), stolen base attemtps (33) and at-bats (199). He ranks second in plate appearances (228) and triples (5) and is third in hitting (.382) and seventh in on-base percentage (.456).
*In SEC games only, Salem is first in plate appearances (106), second in triples (3), third in at-bats (92) and hits (37), fourth in runs scored (24), sixth in average (.402) and stolen bases (5) and eighth in on base percentage (.471).
Pitcher of the Week:
Tommy Hunter (RHP, Fr., 6-5, 255, Indianapolis, Ind.)
STATS: 1GS, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 8 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K
*Hunter threw eight shutout innings in UA’s series-clinching win over Auburn after sitting through a five-hour rain delay on Sunday afternoon.
*The right-hander held the Tigers to just five hits, including one double. Hunter allowed only two AU batters to reach third base.
*The win over the Tigers was Hunter’s second series-clinching win in SEC play this season. He also beat South Carolina (April 9) s the Tide won the series in Columbia.
*Alabama is 7-3 (.700) in Hunter’s 10 starts this year.
*For the season, Hunter is 7-2 with a 3.17 ERA in 14 appearances, including 10 starts. He had worked 76 1/3 innings and allowed 70 hits, 32 runs and 27 earned runs, with 18 walks and 52 stirkeouts.
*He is tied with Wade LeBlanc for the most wins on the staff and is one win shy of tying the UA freshman single-season record for wins, also shared by LeBlanc.
*In SEC play, Hunter is 4-1 in seven starts with a staff-best 3.70 ERA.
Freshman of the Week:
Ryan Rhoden (OF, Fr., 6-2, 210, Tuscaloosa)
STATS: 4 GS, 8-for-19 (.421), 2 R, 2B, 5 RBI
STATS: 3 GS, 5-for-14 (.357), 2 R, 2B, 4 RBI vs. Auburn
*Rhoden hit .421 (8-for-19) on the week, with one extra base hit and five RBI.
*He was 3-for-5 with one RBI in UA’s 14-8 comeback win at UAB on April 26.
*He had two hits and scored one run in the Tide’s 6-5 in over Auburn in the series opener.
*In the series finale, Rhoden had two hits and broke the game open with a three-run double in the 5th inning that gave UA a 5-0 lead en route to a 9-1 win.
*For the season, Rhoden is batting .308 (44-for-143) in 44 games with one home run and 19 RBI.
*In SEC play, he is second on the team with a .362 (20-for-55) batting average, with 12 runs scored and nine RBI in 19 games.
