Baseball Rewind: A Look Back at UA's Opening Weekend
2/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 23, 2010
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Alabama opened the 2010 season with a two-game sweep of the South Alabama Jaguars this past weekend. The Crimson Tide won the season opener 12-4 in Tuscaloosa and then finished off the series with a 5-3 win in Mobile.
The 12-4 win in the season opener was the first win for first-year Alabama coach Mitch Gaspard, who has brought an exciting brand of baseball to the Joe this season.
The Crimson Tide hit .361 in the two-game series and averaged 8.5 runs and 13 hits per game. Four starters - sophomore centerfielder Taylor Dugas, freshman catcher/outfielder Brett Booth, freshman outfielder Andrew Miller, senior third baseman Jake Smith and junior second baseman Ross Wilson - are hitting over .400. The Crimson Tide pitching staff recorded 19 strikeouts and walked three batters in 18 innings and threw 68 percent of their pitches for strikes on the weekend. The Crimson Tide played two errorless games, marking the first time since 2001 that Alabama has opened the year with back-to-back errorless games.
"It was a good opening weekend for us in all three phases of the game," Gaspard said. "We played with a lot of energy all weekend long and Sunday's win was important in the way we battled back on the road to win at the end."
Alabama used 25 players in the two-game series, including 17 position players and eight pitchers. The Crimson Tide used 15 different starters in the South Alabama series.
"We played a lot of people and still have several guys we want to get into the games this weekend against Illinois-Chicago," Gaspard added. "We played 25 players and 10 of them played at Alabama for the first time. I like the energy of this team and the passion we play with. We have some good young players and there were some outstanding performances this weekend."
Among the 25 players used this past weekend, 10 of them were first-time players for the Crimson Tide. The list includes Booth, redshirt freshman Brandt Hendricks, junior outfielder David Kindred, Miller, junior pitcher Jonathan Smart, junior catcher Chris Smelley, junior outfielder John David Smelser, junior pitcher Jason Townsend, freshman outfielder Matt Taylor, and junior pitcher/DH Brett Whitaker.
Several newcomers made an immediate impact for the Tide. Booth is hitting .600 (3-for-5) with two runs scored and one RBI. He had a pinch-hit RBI single in his first career at-bat on Saturday and then opened the Tide's three-run eighth inning with a double on Sunday. Miller is hitting .400 (2-for-5) with two runs scored and two RBI. He lined a two-run single to center in Saturday's season opener that gave the Tide the lead for good at 5-3 in the fourth inning. Whitaker threw one scoreless inning on the mound in the season opener and added one strikeout.
Alabama will host Illinois-Chicago in a three-game series this weekend in Tuscaloosa. The series opener is Friday, Feb. 26, at 6:35 p.m. The teams will play a double header, consisting of two, nine-inning games, on Saturday, Feb. 27 beginning 12:05 p.m.
