Alabama Eliminates LSU, 8-3
5/27/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
HOOVER, Ala. -- The No. 6 University of Alabama baseball had its most productive game at the 2006 Southeastern Conference baseball tournament on Friday night as the Crimson Tide eliminated the LSU Tigers with an 8-3 win in front of a session five record 11,923 fans at the Hoover Met.
The Crimson Tide, who had hit just .180 in its previous two SEC Tournament games, scored eight runs on eight hits in the elimination game win over the Tigers.
Senior catcher Kody Valverde and senior second baseman Evan Bush, who were a combined 0-for-15 in the Crimson Tide's first two tournament games, went 4-for-9 with five runs scored and three RBI in Friday's win over the Tigers. Bush had two hits and two RBI in the win, while Valverde had two hits and scored three runs.
The offense was more then enough for freshman right hander Tommy Hunter, who held LSU to three runs and eight hits in six-plus innings for his 10th win of the season.
"We got what we needed from Hunter," Alabama head coach Jim Wells said. "He was tired and has had little rest the last two weeks, but he did what he had to do."
With the win, Alabama (41-18) advances to Saturday's semi final round against unbeaten Ole Miss. The game will begin at 1:30 p.m. (CT) and will be televised by FSN South. Alabama would need two wins over Ole Miss to advance to the championship game on Sunday. A second game, if needed, would be played at either 5 or 8:30 p.m. depending on the outcome of the Georgia-Vanderbilt game, which starts at 10 a.m.
For the second time this season, Alabama knocked an LSU starting pitcher out of the game in the first inning. Seldom-used right-hander Chris Cahill recorded only two outs in the opening inning as the Tide took advantage of three walks and two LSU errors to take a 3-0 lead.
Junior center fielder Emeel Salem reached on an error to open the game and then Cahill loaded the bases with back-to-back walks to senior third baseman Matt Downs and freshman DH Alex Avila. Senior catcher Valverde's ground ball to short turned into a double play when second base umpire Tony Walsh ruled interference on Avila at second base. The dead ball forced Downs and Salem to return to second and third base.
Bush then followed with single to center field to scored both runners and he took second when Jarred Bogany overran the ball. After senior first baseman Spencer Pennington walked, freshman right fielder Kent Matthes lined a single to left to score Bush with the three-run lead which knocked Cahill from the game.
Cahill (1-1), who had only six appearances and 13 innings, allowed three unearned runs and two hits, with three walks in the frame.
LSU got on the board in the third inning when center fielder Jarrod Bogany singled up the middle, took second on a wild pitch and scored on Bruce Sprowl's RBI single to right to cut the deficit to 3-1.
Alabama got the run back in the fourth inning when Matthes reached on an error by third baseman Will Harris, moved around on two infield ground outs and scored on Salem's RBI single to right as UA went in front 4-1.
The Crimson Tide strung together a pair of two-out hits in the fifth inning to extend its lead to 5-1. Valverde was hit by a pitch with two outs to start the rally before Bush and Pennington tallied back-to-back hits. Pennington's single to center scored Valverde from second base to make it a four-run lead.
Hunter ignited the crowd when he pitched around a pair of leadoff hits in the sixth inning to preserved the four-run lead. Michael Hollander doubled and moved to third on Matt Liuzza's single to center to bring the middle of the LSU order to plate. Hunter struck out Quinn Stewart, the SEC's home run leader, for the first out and then got Steven Waguespack to foul out to third base. Hunter then struck out Harris to the end the threat.
Valverde then stretched the lead to 6-1 with a two-out solo home run to left in the top of the seventh inning. It was his team-leading 11th home run of the year and first since April 22.
Hunter ran into trouble again in the seventh inning and left the game after giving up two runs and two hits in the inning. Jordan Mayer led off with a single to left and moved to third on Bogany's sharp single up the middle. Bogany took second when Salem's throw from centerfield went to third base.
Buzzy Haydel then reached on an error by shortstop Greg Paiml as Mayer scored from third base. Sprowl's sacrifice fly to center plated Bogany to make it a 6-3 game. Hunter then walked Hollander and turned the game over to junior right-hander Jake McCarter.
McCarter got Liuzza on a warning track fly ball and he ended the inning when Stewart struck out for the third time in the game to end the inning as LSU left two men on base.
McCarter limited LSU to just one hit in 2 2/3 scoreless innings, with two strikeouts for his first save of the season.
Alabama tacked on two more runs in the ninth inning to make it an 8-3 game. Valverde doubled and scored on a throwing error by Haydel at third base. Bush, who reached on a fielder's choice, scored on Paiml drew a two-out bases loaded walk.
GAME NOTES:
*The start of today's game was delayed one hour due to the length of the Georgia-South Carolina game, which began at 3:06 p.m. (CT). Georgia defeated South Carolina 16-10 in a game that lasted three hours and 42 minutes. South Carolina led 9-0 after two innings but saw Georgia tally the next 16 runs for the lopsided win. UGa scored five runs in the third, three in the fourth and six in the fifth inning.
*Hunter (10-3) and Wade LeBlanc (10-0) become the fourth duo in school history to post 10 wins in a season. The others were Dean Hayes (11-2) and Rick Browne (11-2) in 1983, Heath Henderson (13-2), Jarrod Kingrey (10-1) and Pete Fisher (10-3) in 1997 and Manny Torres (10-3) and Jonathan Blankenship (10-3) in 1999.
*Alabama is 17-3 in SEC Tournament elimination games under coach Jim Wells.
*The Alabama-LSU game drew 11,923 fans, a session five attendance record.
*Bush's two-run single in the top of the first inning snapped an 0-for-20 SEC Tournament slump that dated back to the 2003 post-season.
*Valverde's two-out, solo home run in the seventh inning was his first career SEC Tournament hit and snapped an 0-for-14 slump at the tourney.
*LSU committed a season-high five errors tonight.
