UA LOOKS TO STAY ALIVE IN SEC TOURNEY
5/25/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The Alabama Crimson Tide (39-18, 20-10 SEC) and Arkansas Razorbacks (38-18, 18-12 SEC) meet in an SEC Tournament elimination game at 1 p.m. (CT) Thursday, May 25 here at the Hoover Met. The Crimson Tide and Razorbacks met in an elimination game last year, with the Crimson Tide claiming a 5-4 win. No. 1 seed Alabama managed only four hits in a 4-3 loss to No. 8 seed 8 LSU. No. 4 seed Arkansas suffered a 9-3 loss to No. 5 seed Ole Miss on Wednesday. Alabama will the home team in Thursday’s elimination game.
SEC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Alabama is 35-30 (.538) all-time in SEC Tournament play since 1977. The Crimson Tide has lost three of its last four SEC Tournament games, after going 1-2 in last year’s tourney. Alabama is 31-11 (.738) under coach Jim Wells in SEC Tournament play and has won six championships (1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2002 and 2003).
Alabama is 23-9 (.719) in tournament games here at the Hoover Met. Bama has lost back-to-back SEC Tournament openers for the first time since 1993-94. UA lost 3-1 to Ole Miss in last year’s opener. Alabama has not gone 0-2 in SEC Tournament play since the 1994 SEC Western Division Tournament in Oxford when it lost to LSU and Ole Miss.
HEAD COACH JIM WELLS
Wells has compiled a 517-243 (.680) record in 12 years at Alabama. He has led the Crimson Tide to two SEC Championships (1996 and 2006), three Western Division titles (1996, 2002 and 2006) and six tourney championships (1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2002 and 2003). In 17 years at Northwestern State and Alabama, Wells has compiled a 709-332 (.681) record. He is 31-11 (.738) in his career at the SEC Tournament.
0-FOR-17
Alabama’s top five hitters in the lineup were 0-for-17 in the loss to LSU, with six strikeouts.
ALABAMA-ARKANSAS SERIES
Alabama owns a 30-18 (.625) series lead over Arkansas. The Crimson Tide was swept in a three-game series by the Razorbacks earlier this season (May 5-7) in Fayetteville. Alabama pitchers walked a school-record 16 batters in a 4-3, 11-inning loss in the series opener. The Razorbacks handed the Tide its worst loss of the year in game two with a 13-6 win. Jake Dugger’s three-run home run in the sixth inning capped a four-run inning and gave the Hogs and 5-3 win in the finale. Arkansas is 7-2 (.778) against UA in the last nine games. Alabama eliminated Arkansas from the SEC Tournament in 1995, 1999 and 2005. Wells is 26-15 (.634) against Arkansas. Dave Van Horn is 7-6 (.538) against Alabama. Arkansas assistant coach Todd Butler was an Alabama assistant coach from 1995-2002 and 2005.
ALABAMA NOTEBOOK
Alabama had its five-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday ... UA pitchers have walked only four batters in the last four games ... UA starters have only three walks (30 IP) in the last four games ... UA starters went 24 innings without a walk from May 19-24 ... Junior SS Greg Paiml will play his 150th career game today for Alabama ... Senior 2B Evan Bush moves into a 7th place with Brett Taft (1993-96) with his 216th career game played ... Bama is 10-8 in one-run games this year ... The Crimson Tide equaled its season-low of four hits in the loss to LSU ... Bama also managed only four hits against Memphis (2/21), Nebraska (3/11) and SE Louisiana (4/12) ... Junior LHP Wade LeBlanc (9-0, 2.89 ERA) will make his 16th start of the season today ... He has 107 strikeouts this year and needs 12 to break the UA single-season mark of 118 strikeouts set by Bobby Sprowl in 1977 ... LeBlanc has at least one win against SEC team in his career with the exception of Arkansas (3 GS, 0-0) and Auburn (3 GS, 0-2) ... The top four seeds are 2-10 (.167) on the first day of the SEC Tournament in the last three years ... The top four seeds lost all four games on Wednesday ...
