Baseball Team Set to Host Mississippi Valley State
4/26/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 26, 2010
Alabama Hosts Mississippi Valley State
Records: Alabama (25-15)
Mississippi Valley State (20-20)
Series Dates: Tuesday, April 27 6:35 p.m.
Wednesday, April 28 6:35 p.m.
Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network (Chris Stewart)
WFNN-FM (95.3 in Tuscaloosa)
Alabama Starting Pitchers
Game 1: Taylor Wolfe (Fr., LHP, 8 G, 2-1, 4.18 ERA)
Game 2: TBA
MVSU Starting Pitchers
Game 1: TBA
Game 2: TBA
THE GAME: Alabama looks to extend its three-game winning streak when the Crimson Tide hosts the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils in a two-game series, beginning Tuesday, April 27, at 6:35 p.m. (CDT). The two teams will also meet on Wednesday, April 28, at 6:35 p.m. (CDT) at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. Alabama (25-15, 8-10 SEC) is coming off a three-game sweep of Mississippi State this past weekend in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide posted two come-from-behind wins on Sunday, fueled by junior catcher Brock Bennett's two game-winning RBI. Alabama's current three-game winning streak is the longest streak since winning eight straight games from March 12-20. Mississippi Valley State (20-20, 13-4 SWAC) brings a nine-game winning streak to Tuscaloosa after Monday's 16-9 at Alabama State.
HEAD COACH Mitch Gaspard: Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard is 25-15 (.625) in his first season as the Crimson Tide's head coach. Overall, he has compiled a 236-143 (.623) record in seven seasons as a head coach. He was named the school's 30th head coach on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009, replacing Jim Wells, who retired after 15 seasons. Gaspard begins his 10th overall season with the Crimson Tide baseball program this spring, after serving two stints as an assistant coach under Wells from 1995-2001 and 2008-09, where he helped land some of the nation's top recruiting classes. Gaspard spent six years as the head coach at Northwestern State, where he compiled a 211-128 (.622) record from 2002-07. He led the Demons to a pair of Southland Conference championships, one SLC Tournament title and a berth into the 2005 NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.
SEC LEADERS: Alabama sophomore center fielder Taylor Dugas leads the SEC with a .435 batting average and junior right-hander Nathan Kilcrease leads the league with a 1.48 earned run average this season. Dugas is 60-for-138 in 40 starts this season with 42 runs scored, 42 walks and 22 RBI. He also leads the SEC in on-base percentage (.575), walks (42) and sacrifice bunts (9). Kilcrease is 3-1 with four saves and a 1.48 ERA in 24 appearances this season. In addition to his league-leading 1.48 ERA, he also paces the SEC in appearances (24), relief appearances (24), fewest runs allowed (7), fewest earned runs allowed (7), fewest hits (28), fewest doubles allowed (3) and fewest home runs allowed (2).
ALABAMA HITTING NOTES: Alabama is third in the SEC in sacrifice bunts (33) and fifth in the league in hitting (.307) … the Tide is hitting .365 (19-for-52) with the bases loaded, including two hits (3 AB) against Mississippi State last weekend … Alabama pinch hitters are hitting .333 (15-for-45) this season ... Alabama has hit only 15 home runs in the last 22 games ... the Crimson Tide is 16-5 when it hits at least one home run and 9-10 without a home run ... Alabama matched its season high with three home runs against LSU on April 17 ... the Tide also hit three home runs against Stony Brook on March 13 ... Alabama is 5-6 in one-run games and 8-10 in games decided by two runs or less … Alabama is 2-1 in extra inning games this season … Alabama is 18-2 when leading after eight innings and 1-12 when trailing after eight innings … the Tide has nine double-figure scoring games, including a season-high 25 runs against Illinois-Chicago on Feb. 27 … the Tide has 21 double-digit hit games this season, including a season-high 23 hits against UIC on Feb. 27 … junior shortstop Josh Rutledge scored five runs in the win over Illinois-Chicago on Feb. 27, the most by an SEC player this year … Alabama did not strike out in its 15-8 win over Stony Brook on March 12 ... the Tide had only one strikeout at Arkansas on March 27 ... Alabama tied an NCAA record with six sacrifice bunts in its 10-4 win at Jacksonville State on April 7 ... Alabama scored seven of its eight runs against Mississippi State on April 23 with two outs.
ALABAMA PITCHING NOTES: Alabama is fifth in the SEC in strikeouts (319) and sixth in ERA (4.72) and has the second fewest hit batters (25) in the SEC (Arkansas pitchers have hit the fewest, 24) … in SEC play, Alabama is seventh in ERA (5.90) and strikeouts (126) … Alabama's starters are 12-9 with a 5.17 ERA this season … UA starters have only two wins since April 2 … the wins have been recorded by Adam Morgan (vs. Auburn, April 2) and Jimmy Nelson (vs. Mississippi State, April 23) … Alabama's bullpen has posted a 13-6 record with nine saves and 4.22 ERA … Alabama has yielded 44 home runs this season, including eight at LSU (April 16-18) ... LSU's eight home runs were the most in a series against Alabama this season ... Auburn hit seven solo home runs against Alabama (April 2-4) ... LSU hit six solo homers in the series against the Tide ... UA opponents have hit 39 home runs in the last 23 games ... on March 24, Alabama led the SEC in fewest home runs allowed with five dingers ... the Tide has thrown two shutouts this season against the College of Charleston (4-0, March 6) and Stony Brook (5-0, March 13) ... the 4-0 win at the College of Charleston marked the first time Cougars had been shutout at home since a 6-0 loss to top-ranked Clemson on March 3, 2006 ... Alabama has 14 double-digit strikeout games this season, including five in its last eight games … the Tide recorded a season-high 16 strikeouts at College of Charleston on March 6 … Alabama had an SEC-high 12 strikeouts against Mississippi State on April 23 … the Tide has allowed three double-figure scoring games this season, including a season-high 12 by LSU on April 16 ... Alabama has allowed 22 double-figure hit games, including 17 hits by Kentucky on April 10 ... Nelson, Wolfe and Pilkington combined for the SEC's only one-hitter this season against Illinois-Chicago on Feb. 27 ... Alabama recorded 12 strikeouts and no walks in its 8-5 win over Mississippi State on April 23 ... the MSU game marked the fourth time this season the Crimson Tide has not issued a walk ... the others came against Illinois-Chicago (Feb. 26), College of Charleston (March 6) and Auburn (April 4).
ALABAMA FIELDING NOTES: Alabama is second in the SEC with a .976 fielding mark and is tied with Mississippi for the second-fewest errors (36) in the league … in SEC play, Alabama is third with a .977 fielding mark and has the third-fewest errors (15) … UA catchers are third in the league with a .992 fielding mark and are tied for second in the SEC with only three errors … Alabama is second in the SEC with 11 outfield assists … the 11 assists have been recorded by six different players, including Booth (3), Dugas (3), Miller (2), Tinlsey (1), Kelton (1) and Smelser (1) ... UA outfielders lead the SEC in fielding percentage (.988) and have the second-fewest errors (3) this year ... Alabama has played 15 errorless games this season and 14-1 in those 15 games ... Alabama is 11-14 when committing at least one error ... from Feb. 27-March 7, UA logged 35 2/3 consecutive errorless innings and fielded 133 consecutive chances without an error ... Alabama logged an SEC high 20 assists in its win over Stony Brook on March 12 ... Rutledge had an SEC-high eight assists in that game … Alabama did make an error in the win over Mississippi State on April 23, snapping a streak of 11 consecutive games with at least one error.
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE SERIES: Alabama leads the all-time series with Mississippi Valley State, 11-0. The Crimson Tide and Delta Devils are meeting for the ninth straight year. Alabama has scored 10 or more runs in eight of the 11 previous meetings with MVSU. The Crimson Tide swept a two-game series with the Delta Devils last season in Tuscaloosa, winning 9-4 on April 1 and 10-1 on April 14. The two teams first met in 2002, with Alabama winning 19-0 and 10-7. Alabama added a 21-0 win over MVSU in 2003, the most lopsided win in series history.
ALABAMA-MVSU SERIES SCORES
YEAR SCORE
2002 Alabama 19, MVSU 0
Alabama 10, MVSU 7
2003 Alabama 21, MVSU 0
2004 Alabama 10, MVSU 2
2005 Alabama 12, MVSU 6
2006 Alabama 5, MVSU 0
2007 Alabama 3, MVSU 1
Alabama 12, MVSU 1
2008 Alabama 12, MVSU 4
2009 Alabama 9, MVSU 4
Alabama 10, MVSU 1
2009 UA-MVSU GAME RECAPS: Alabama won both games with Mississippi Valley State last season, winning 9-4 on April 1 and 10-1 on April 14. Here is a recap of both games:
Alabama 9, Mississippi Valley State 4 (April 1, 2009)
Taylor Dugas had four hits and scored two runs to lead Alabama to a 9-4 win over Mississippi Valley State at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. Dugas had hits in each of his first four at-bats. He singled and scored the winning run in the sixth inning to snap a 3-3 tie.
Alabama had built a 3-1 lead through five innings before Cody Pride's two-run double tied the game at 3-3 in the sixth inning. The Crimson Tide quickly answered when Dugas stroked a one-out single and scored on Josh Rutledge's double to left-center.
Jake Smith and Clay Jones hit back-to-back home runs in a three-run seventh inning as the Tide built an 8-3 lead. Both teams added a run in the eighth inning.
Willie Mays hit a first-inning home run to give the Delta Devils a 1-0 lead, their first lead over the Crimson Tide since 2004.
Austin Evans was the winning pitcher for Alabama, while Scott Reid took the loss for MVSU.
Alabama 10, Mississippi Valley State 1 (April 14, 2009)
Jimmy Nelson threw six scoreless innings and Clay Jones had four hits and four RBI to lead Alabama to a 10-1 win over Mississippi Valley State and complete the series sweep.
Nelson picked up his second win of the season after he allowed only two hits with five strikeouts and three walks over six innings for the win. Austin Evans worked the final three innings for his second save of the year.
Jones went 4-for-5 with one run scored and four RBI to lead the Crimson Tide offense. He had a two-run single in the Tide's four-run first inning and added an RBI single in a four-run fourth inning. He capped his night with an RBI single in the sixth inning.
Josh Rutledge, Ross Wilson, Kyle Moore and Alex Kubal all had two hits for the Crimson Tide. Rutledge also scored three times.
MVSU avoided the shutout as Chris Herron delivered a two-out single in the seventh inning to score Jeff Squier.
ALABAMA VS. THE SWAC: Alabama owns a 48-3 all-time record against teams from the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The Crimson Tide enters the Mississippi Valley State series riding a 20-game winning streak against SWAC schools, dating back to a 4-3 loss to Jackson State in 1988.
Opponent Series Record Last Meeting
Alabama A&M UA leads, 3-0 Alabama 12, Alabama A&M 0 (2009)
Alabama State UA leads, 5-0 Alabama 12, Alabama State 2 (1988)
Alcorn State UA leads, 11-1 Alabama 18, Alcorn State 4 (1994)
Arkansas Pine-Bluff Never Met N/A
Grambling Never Met N/A
Jackson State UA leads, 14-3 Jackson State 4, Alabama 3 (1988)
Miss. Valley State UA leads, 11-0 Alabama 10, MVSU 1 (2009)
Prairie View Never Met N/A
Southern UA leads, 4-0 Alabama 5, Southern 0 (1916)
Texas Southern Never Met N/A
NEXT GAME: Following the two-game series with Mississippi Valley State, Alabama will travel to Columbia, S.C., for a three-game SEC series with No. 5 South Carolina this weekend. Game times are 6 p.m., 12 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. each day. The game on Saturday, May 1 will be televised by Comcast Sports Southeast and will also be shown on EPSN3.com.
