UA Baseball Team Travels to Samford Wednesday

GAME 20: ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE (13-6) AT SAMFORD BULLDOGS (9-8)

JOE LEE GRIFFIN FIELD -- BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA -- 6 PM (CDT)

MARCH 14, 2007 -- BAMA VISITS SAMFORD IN MAGIC CITY

ALABAMA LOOKS TO REBOUND AT SAMFORD

After losing four of its last five games, including a pair of one-run losses to Nebraska, the No. 22 University of Alabama baseball team looks to rebound this week when the Crimson Tide travels to Birmingham for a Wednesday, March 14 game against the Samford Bulldogs and then opens Southeastern Conference play at home this weekend against the Tennessee Volunteers.  The Alabama-Samford game will be played at Joe Lee Griffin Field on the Samford campus.  The first pitch is set for 6 p.m. (CDT).  Alabama (13-6) lost  back-to-back games to Southern Miss and Tennessee Tech last week and then capped the week with back-to-back losses to No. 17 Nebraska.  The Crimson Tide is batting .316 (210-for-664) with 17 home runs and 126 RBI through 19 games.  The pitching staff has compiled a 2.95 ERA and 3.5-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.  Alabama had made 29 errors (.962) in 19 games.  UA is fifth in the SEC in hitting and pitching and eighth in fielding.  Samford (9-8) is coming off a series win at UNC Asheville.  After dropping the series opener on Friday, the Bulldogs bounced back to claim the next two games and the series.  Samford has won five of its last six games to improve to one-game over the .500 mark.  From Feb. 24-March, Samford lost five consecutive games.

THE HEAD COACHES

Alabama head baseball coach Jim Wells (Northwestern State, 1980) is the winningest coach in school history.  He has compiled a 536-252 (.680) record in 13 seasons at the Capstone.  Overall, Wells has posted a 728-341 (.690) record in 18 seasons.  Wells is 16-2 (.889) in his career against the Bulldogs, including a 4-0 mark here in Birmingham.  Samford head coach Casey Dunn (Auburn, 1999) has compiled a 63-69 (.477) record in his first collegiate head coaching job.  He was a four-year letterman at Auburn (1996-99) and played on the Tigers 1997 CWS team.  He batted .338 (20-59) against Alabama, with two home runs and 17 RBI in 16 career games.  Alabama won 10 of the 16 games. 

ALABAMA-SAMFORD SERIES

Alabama owns an 84-9 (.903) record against Samford, in a series that dates back to the 1894 season.  The Crimson Tide owns a 12-3 (.800) series lead in games played in Birmingham.

TODAY’S STARTING PITCHERS

Alabama sophomore right-hander Austin Hyatt (Marietta, Ga.) will make his second start of the season at Samford.  Hyatt is 2-1 with a 1.77 ERA in eight appearances this year.  He allowed one run and three hits in six-plus innings, with seven strikeouts in his only other career start against McNeese State (March 4).  Samford will send sophomore right hander David Knapp (Marietta, Ga.) will make his second start of the 2007 season on Wednesday against Alabama.  In five appearances this season, Knapp is 1-0 with a 2.13 ERA.  In his last start against Memphis (March 7), Knapp threw seven scoreless innings and allowed two hits, with one walk and four strikeouts.  For his efforts, he was named the Ohio Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week on March 12. 

SALEM EYES TWO CAREER RECORDS

Alabama senior center fielder Emeel Salem (Mountain Brook) enters the week with an eye on a pair of career records.  Salem is currently tied with G.W. Keller (1997-99) for first place on the school’s all-time list with 12 triples.  He laced his record-tying 12th triple on March 7 against Tennessee Tech.  Salem is also tied with David Fowke (1980-81) for the all-time Alabama record with 68 stolen bases.  He swiped two bases on March 11 against Nebraska to tie Fowke’s career mark.  The 68 career stolen bases is the oldest existing record in the UA record books. 

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUP

Odr          No.           Name                       Pos.         Bats         2007 Stats

 1             2             Emeel Salem           CF            L/L           .392 (29x74), 3 HR, 13 RBI, 24 R

 2             14            Jake Smith              3B            R/R          .278 (15x54), 2 HR, 16 RBI

 3             16            Alex Avila                DH           L/R          .342 (25x73), 2 HR, 17 RBI, 9 2B

 4             22            Kent Matthes           RF            R/R          .347 (26x75), 5 HR, 24 RBI, 18 R

 5             25            Matt Bentley            1B            L/L           .339 (20x59), 2 HR, 12 RBI

 6             34            Ryan Rhoden           C              R/R          .338 (22x65), 1 HR, 9 RBI, 13 R

 7             6             Brandon May           2B            R/R          .382 (13x34), 0 HR, 5 RBI

 8             32            Brandon Belcher     LF            L/L           .150 (3x20), 0 HR, 2 RBI

 9             3             Greg Paiml              SS           R/R          .277 (18x65), 1 HR, 10 RBI, 14 R

ALABAMA NOTEBOOK

Alabama (13-6) opens defense of its 2006 SEC Championship this week as the Crimson hosts the Tennessee Volunteers in the opening weekend of league play ... The Crimson Tide posted a 44-21 overall record last season, including a 20-10 mark in SEC play to earn a share of its league-leading 14^th SEC Championship ... Overall, Alabama has won 25 conference baseball titles, more than any other SEC school ... Alabama will open its 73rd season of Southeastern Conference baseball action this weekend against the Tennessee Volunteers ... The Crimson Tide is 44-27 (.620) all-time record in SEC openers since 1933 ... The Crimson Tide is opening its SEC slate with an Eastern Division foe for the 17th consecutive year, dating back to 1991 ... UA is opening its SEC slate with Tennessee for the seventh time in history and the first time since 2002 ... Bama is 5-1 in those previous six meetings with the Vols ... Head coach Jim Wells is 9-3 (.750) in SEC openers ... Alabama has 16 players with previous Southeastern Conference experience entering this weekend’s series with Tennessee ... The breakdown is 10 position players, four pitchers and one two-way player (Brandon Belcher) ... The majority of the SEC playing experience has come from three players ... Salem (76), Greg Paiml (70) and Belcher (64) have played 210 of the 335 league games ... On the pitching front, Belcher (14), Tommy Hunter (10) and Bernard Robert (10) have appeared in 34 of the 41 total games on the roster ... Josh Copeland (4) and Patrick Kelly (3) are the only other two current pitchers with previous SEC experience ... The Crimson Tide is coming off a 1-4 week last week, with three losses to ranked teams ... Alabama was shutout 5-0 at No. 26 Southern Miss March 6 and lost a pair of one-run games to No. 17 Nebraska March 10-11 ... In the 5-0 loss at USM, Alabama was no-hit for 7 2/3 innings before senior CF Emeel Salem broke up the no-hitter in the eighth inning ... Salem had  a big week last week as he recorded his 200^th career hit at Alabama and tied two career records ... He picked up his 200^th career hit in the loss to Southern Miss March 6 ... He recorded his 12^th career triple against Tennessee Tech March 7 to tie G.W. Keller (1997-99) for first place on the all-time triples list ... Against Nebraska on March 11, Salem stole two bases to give him 68 career stolen bases ... He is currently tied with David Fowke (1980-81) for first place on the all-time stolen base list ...

 ON DECK

Alabama opens SEC play this weekend as the Crimson Tide hosts the Tennessee Volunteers in a three-game series at the Joe.  The series opener is Friday, March 16 at 6:34 p.m. (CDT).  The game will be televised by WVUA Sports.  The teams will also play Saturday, March 17 at 4 p.m. (CDT) and Sunday, March 18 at 2:06 p.m. (CDT). The series finale will be televised by CSS.

University of Alabama Athletics

UA Baseball Team Travels to Samford Wednesday

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