Crimson Tide Coaching Staff Names Players of the Week
4/26/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 26, 2010
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Following a Southeastern Conference series sweep over long-time Western Division rival Mississippi State, the Alabama coaching staff has selected junior catcher Brock Bennett, junior right-hander Nathan Kilcrease, junior shortstop Josh Rutledge and junior left-hander Jonathan Smart as players of the week, head coach Mitch Gaspard announced Monday morning.
"I'm proud of our team after really what we've been through the last month, knowing what was at stake this weekend and we desperately needed the sweep to kind of get some momentum going," Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard said. "They were put in some tough situations all weekend, and we fell behind. I think it shows the true character of our players.
"We had a lot of outstanding performances this weekend, but Brock and Josh stood out on offense. Bennett had two game-winning RBI in Sunday's doubleheader and Rutledge had some key hits all weekend. Peanut continues to be our best option out of the bullpen and he had another great weekend. Smart gave us four good innings on Sunday and that was his best outing of the year."
Bennett had a walk-off single in game one on Sunday, scoring Andrew Miller with a one-out base hit in the eighth inning to give the Tide a 9-8 win. Alabama had trailed 7-0 in the fourth inning. In game two, Bennett added a two-out, two-run single in the Tide's five-run sixth inning as UA rallied for a 6-4 win. The Crimson Tide has nine come-from-behind wins this year.
Rutledge hit .417 (5-for-12) in the series with one home run and four RBI. He also scored two runs. In the series opener, he had an RBI single in the second inning as UA built a 3-0 lead. He added a two-run home run in the fourth inning to give Alabama a 5-2 lead.
On Sunday, he had an RBI single in the Tide's eight-run fourth inning and then scored the tying run on Ross Wilson's go-ahead, three-run home run. In the series finale, Rutledge led off the sixth inning with a single to ignite UA's five-run rally and second comeback win of the day.
Kilcrease earned a win and save in the Mississippi State series. He worked 5 2/3 innings and allowed one run and four hits with six strikeouts and two walks. He picked up his fourth save of the season in the series opener when he retired all five batters he faced with four strikeouts. Kilcrease was the winning pitcher in the Tide's 9-8 series-clinching win on Sunday, with four innings in relief.
Smart picked up his second win of the season and first SEC win as the Tide completed the three-game sweep against Mississippi State. Smart worked four innings and allowed one run and four hits with one strikeout and one walk as the Tide erased a three-run deficit in the sixth inning.
Alabama will host Mississippi Valley State on Tuesday, April 27 and Wednesday, April 28, at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. Both games begin at 6:35 p.m. (CDT). The Crimson Tide plays at South Carolina this weekend.
