Alabama
Auburn
Alabama Drops Series; Offense Struggles
5/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 16, 2009
AUBURN, Ala. - In the completion of a suspended game, Auburn beat No. 10 Alabama 3-1 to clinch the SEC series on Saturday afternoon at Plainsman Park.
The game was suspended at 8:54 p.m. (CDT) on Friday night with the Tigers holding a two-run lead in the fourth inning. The resumption took only one hour and 17 minutes and neither team generated any offense on Saturday morning.
The two teams will wrap up the series at 3:06 p.m. this afternoon and the seven-inning game will be televised by FS South.
Auburn lefty Sean Ray (2-0) silenced Alabama with 5 1/3 scoreless innings of relief, allowing two singles in the win. He added two strikeouts and two walks.
UA right-hander Jimmy Nelson was just as impressive on the mound for the Tide, holding AU scoreless on two hits over the final five innings. He added seven strikeouts and walked two. It was the second stellar outing for Nelson, who earned the win over No. 11 Arkansas last Saturday. In those two games, he has allowed one run and four hits with 13 strikeouts and two walks in eight innings.
Alabama (36-17, 17-11 SEC) is eliminated from SEC Championship contention with the loss and has locked up the fourth-seed at next week's SEC Tournament in Hoover. Alabama will play No. 5 seed South Carolina on Wednesday, May 20, at 8:30 p.m. (CDT).
The Crimson Tide missed out on a pair of scoring opportunities in the first two innings before the game was suspended on Friday. In all, Alabama left eight men on base, including five in scoring position. UA left two men on the base in the first inning and left the bases loaded in the second, despite having two on and no outs to start the inning against Grant Dayton.
Auburn (31-24, 11-18 SEC) put the three batters on base in the bottom of the first inning to grab a quick 1-0 lead. Trent Mummey was hit by a pitch and scored on Ben Jones' double off the left field wall. Brian Fletcher drew a walk to put runners on first and third with no outs. Del Howell put an end the rally with a huge strike out of Hunter Morris and some good fortune. With one out, Tony Caldwell popped to second baseman Brandon May and was immediately called out by the infield fly rule. May did not make the catch of the pop up and Fletcher broke for second, where he was easily retired on a bizarre double play.
Alabama left three more runners in the second inning as Josh Rutledge struck out with the bases loaded.
Alabama did get a run in the top of the third inning on a two-out walk to Jake Smith followed by a two-out RBI double by Clay Jones to tie the game at 1-1.
Auburn regained the lead in the bottom of the third inning on four straight two outs hits, including RBI singles by Caldwell and Casey McElroy.
Del Howell (5-3) suffered the loss. He allowed three runs and six hits in three innings.
The game was stopped at 7:10 p.m. and finally suspended at 8:54 p.m. on Friday night before wrapping up the game on Saturday.
