Baseball Takes on No. 24 Auburn Tuesday in Montgomery
3/14/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 14, 2011
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama baseball team will play four games against SEC competition and begins conference play on the weekend. The Crimson Tide (11-5) opens the week with a Tuesday night contest against the No. 24-ranked Auburn Tigers (11-5), when the teams square off in the MAX Capital City Classic at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, Ala. First pitch for the non-conference game is slated for 7:05 p.m. and will be televised on Comcast SportSouth (CSS) with Matt Stewart and Joe Beckwith calling the action.
| Game 17 | Alabama (8-5) vs. Auburn (11-5) - MAX Capital City Classic | |
| Date | Tuesday, March 15, 2011 |
| Location | Montgomery, Ala. | Riverwalk Stadium (7,00) |
| Tickets | |
| Television | Comcast SportSpith (Matt Stewart and Joe Beckwith) |
| Radio | Crimson Tide Sports Network (Lee Tracey) | Affiliates |
| Live Stats | GameTracker |
| Streaming Audio | Rolltide.com |
| All-Time Series | Alabama leads, 142-117 |
| Probable Pitching Starters | |||||||||
| Tuesday | W-L | ERA | G/GS | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| UA-Taylor Wolfe (So., LHP) | 1-1 | 6.00 | 4/3 | 15.0 | 14 | 12 | 10 | 5 | 16 |
| AUB-Will Irvin (Jr., RHP) | 2-0 | 3.86 | 3/3 | 16.1 | 22 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 12 |
On The Radio
Tuesday night's game between Alabama and Auburn will be broadcast on the radio by the Crimson Tide Sports Network. The game can be heard on WTSK-AM 790 in Tuscaloosa, as well as other stations around Alabama, or on RollTide.com. Lee Tracey will call the action for the broadcast from Riverwalk Stadium.
Information Age
For the most up-to-date information on Crimson Tide baseball, visit the school's official athletics website: www.RollTide.com. Fan can access live game action throughout the season on the website with live scoring for all games, and a live webcast, which includes both an audio and video feed, for non-televised home games. The live scoring feature is free and the webcasts will be available through the All Access subscription service. The website also contains information on the 2011 Alabama baseball team as well as historical information pertaining to the program.
No. 24 Auburn Tigers at a Glance
The Auburn Tigers enter this week with an 11-5 overall record and are ranked No. 24 in the country in the Collegiate Baseball News top-30 poll. The Tigers are coming off a 2-2 week that included a 6-2 win over Memphis, before dropping two of three games to No. 7 Arizona State. AU won for the final game of the series against the Sun Devils by a 10-8 count. Auburn continues to pace the SEC in doubles, collecting 45 through 16 games. Junior shortstop Casey McElroy brings a personal-best 11-game hitting streak into the game and has reached base safely in all 16 games thus far. McElroy leads the team with 15 runs scored and seven doubles, and his .382 average is second on the squad. Against ASU he hit .417 (5-for-12) with a double and three RBI, scoring three runs. After posting a .500 (7-for-14 average against ASU last week, Dan Gamache is hitting .339 for the season. Gamache leads the Tigers with 17 RBI and has one of the team's two triples. Wes Gilmer leads the team with a .400 batting average. After Tuesday's game against Alabama, Auburn opens conference play on Friday against No. 14 Arkansas.
Series History vs. Auburn
When Alabama and Auburn meet in a non-conference game on Tuesday, it will mark the 260th meeting all-time between the two schools. Alabama holds a 142-117 record against the Tigers after the teams split the four games last season. After Auburn defeated Alabama 8-6 in Montgomery last year, the Crimson Tide won two of the three games played in Tuscaloosa during SEC play. This will mark the third straight season that Alabama and Auburn have played a non-conference game in Montgomery, with the Tigers taking the first two games at the neutral venue. Auburn defeated Alabama 8-7 at Riverwalk Stadium in 2009.
The Last Outing
Alabama posted its third shutout of the season, defeating Eastern Illinois 5-0 to complete a three-game series sweep of the Panthers. Tucker Hawley improved to 3-1 on the season, and increased his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 17.0 when he blanked EIU for 8.0 innings, allowing four hits with three strikeouts. Every player in the lineup for Alabama had at least one hit on Sunday. Taylor Dugas was 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, while posting his team-leading third triple of the season in the first inning. Jared Reaves also had two hits, going 2-for-3, increasing his team-leading batting average to .439 for the season.
Last Week in Review
Alabama posted a 4-1 record on the week and after recording four wins at home, the Crimson Tide are 11-1 when playing at Sewell-Thomas Stadium this season. The Tide opened the week with a 6-5 win over Troy in 11 innings, before suffering a 6-3 loss to Georgia at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville, Ga. UA closed the week with its third three-game series sweep of the season by winning all three games against Eastern Illinois. Following the sweep of the Panthers, Alabama has won seven of its last eight games. The Crimson Tide posted a .307 batting average for the week, while the pitching staff tallied a 1.96 ERA and held opponents to a .202 batting average. Against EIU, the Crimson Tide outscored the Panthers 20-3 in the series, while hitting .368 (39-for-106) for the weekend. The Tide pitching staff held EIU to a .167 average (16-for-96), while allowing just three runs (two earned) for a 0.67 ERA. In the 12-1 win over Eastern Illinois on Saturday, Alabama recorded season-highs in runs and hits, as the 18-hit outburst on Saturday was the most since a 23-hit performance against Illinois-Chicago on Feb. 27, 2010. Alabama had 12 hits in the series finale to record its sixth game this season with at least 10 hits.
Player Notes
* As the Friday night starter, senior right-handed pitcher Nathan Kilcrease (2-0) struck out nine, extending his team-leading total to 30. Kilcrease has had at least eight strikeouts in three of his four starts this season. He did not allow an earned run for the second straight start, lowering his ERA to 2.22 for the season.
* Sunday starting pitcher Tucker Hawley (3-1) extended his scoreless inning streak to 17.0, following an 8.0 inning, four-hit outing in the series finale against EIU.
* Junior left-handed pitcher Adam Morgan (2-1) retired the first 12 batters of the game before allowing a leadoff double to start the fifth inning. It was the second time this season Morgan carried a no hitter into the fifth inning.
* Junior shortstop Jared Reaves had a pair of RBI on Saturday, increasing his team-leading total to 21, which is second in the SEC. It was the eighth time this season he has had at least two RBI in a game. Reaves notched his team-leading eighth multi-hit game of the season, going 2-for-3 on Sunday to extend his hitting streak to seven games. After posting a .545 average (6-for-11) for the series against EIU, he is hitting .439 (25-for-57) to lead the team.
* Senior catcher Brock Bennett had an RBI single in the first inning on Sunday to extend his hitting streak to eight games. Bennett is now hitting .408 (20-for-49) for the season, which is second on the team. In nine starts in the second spot in the order, he is batting .400 (14-for-35). He had a career-high three RBI in Saturday's win over Eastern Illinois, and finished the EIU series with a .462 average (6-for-13) with five RBI and a run scored.
* Junior outfielder Taylor Dugas has scored runs in 14-of-16 games this season, has scored eight times in the first inning, and leads the team with 20 runs scored, which is third in the SEC. After a leadoff triple to open Sunday's game, Dugas had an RBI single in the sixth inning for his seventh multi-hit game of the season and 64th of his career. Dugas ended the series with a .417 average (5-for-12) with two triples, three RBI and four runs scored and is now batting .356 (21-for-59) for the season with eight doubles (second in the SEC) and three triples (leads the SEC).
* Jon Kelton has started the last five games at second base and is 5-for-16 (.313) with one RBI and three runs scored during that time. He has also been hit by a pitch twice for an on-base percentage of .368 during that stretch.
On Deck for the Tide
The Crimson Tide begins Southeastern Conference competition on Friday, March 18 with game one of a three-game series at Mississippi. First pitch for Friday's game is slated for 6:30 p.m. from Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field. Game two begins at 2 p.m. and will be televised on Comcast SportSouth (CSS) and game three gets underway at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 20.
