Baseball Travels to Tennessee to Continue SEC Play
3/29/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 29, 2012
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Alabama will travel to Knoxville, Tenn., for a three-game Southeastern Conference series against Tennessee. The series begins on Friday night with first pitch at 5 p.m. CDT. The series continues with a 12 p.m. (CDT) game on Saturday, which will be televised on CSS and ESPN3.com and the series finale begins at 1 p.m. CDT, on Sunday. All three games will be played at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
All games for the 2012 season will be broadcast on the Crimson Tide Sports Network. All three games of the series at Tennessee can be heard on WFFN-FM 95.3. Chris Stewart and Lee Tracey will provide the radio commentary for all three games. Audio and live stats will be available at RollTide.com. The Saturday game of the Tennessee series will be televised on CSS and ESPN3.com with Bernie Guenther and Rusty Ensor calling the action.
Probable Starting Pitching Match-ups
FRIDAY W-L ERA G/GS IP H R ER BB SO
UA-Charley Sullivan (Jr., RHP) 2-2 3.57 6/6 35.1 35 14 14 9 21
TENN-Zack Godley (Jr., RHP) 4-1 2.92 6/6 37.0 30 12 12 6 30
SATURDAY W-L ERA G/GS IP H R ER BB SO
UA-Justin Kamplain (Fr., LHP) 1-1 2.54 7/5 28.1 19 14 8 19 26
TENN-T.J. Thornton (Sr., LHP) 0-0 5.25 7/1 12.0 9 7 7 4 10
SUNDAY W-L ERA G/GS IP H R ER BB SO
UA-Jon Keller (Fr., LHP) 0-0 3.18 11/2 22.2 23 8 8 6 13
TENN-Nick Williams (So., RHP) 2-2 1.71 11/2 26.1 21 6 5 7 25
Alabama is 9-16 overall this season, after suffering a 1-0 loss in 12 innings to UAB on Tuesday. The Crimson Tide is 1-5 to open SEC play, following a 2-1 series loss to No. 17 Mississippi. Freshman catcher/outfielder Ben Moore continues to lead the team with a .326 batting average. He is second on the team with 15 runs, six doubles, and 29 hits, and is third on the squad with 12 RBI. Taylor Dugas hit .417 last weekend against Mississippi, and is currently second on the team with a .312 average. Dugas had one hit against UAB on Tuesday and has now reached base in all 25 games this season. Including the last 12 of the 2011 season, he's reached base in the last 37 games.
Tennessee entered the week with a 13-10 overall record, and will enter the series with Alabama with a 15-10 mark following a pair of mid-week wins over Mississippi Valley State. The Vols are 2-4 to start SEC play. Tennessee opened conference play by winning the final game at Georgia, 3-0, and the opening game of the series against Kentucky, 4-3, in 11 innings. Tennessee posted a 1-2 record against Georgia to open SEC play, and a 1-2 record against Kentucky last week. Tennessee is hitting .262 as a team, while averaging 4.9 runs and 8.4 hits per game. The pitching staff is holding opponents to a .249 average with a 3.64 ERA. The Vols are allowing 4.4 runs and 8.6 hits per game.
First baseman Davis Morgan leads the team with a .328 average. Outfielder Chris Fritts leads the team with 20 RBI, two triples and is tied for second on the team with five doubles. Drew Steckenrider has team-highs with three home runs, 20 runs scored and six doubles. Steckenrider also leads the team with 21 walks for a team best.442 on-base percentage. Chris Pierce is third on the team with 11 RBI and has one of the squad's eight home runs this season.
Friday night Tennessee will start reigning SEC Pitcher of the Week, right-hander Zack Godley. Godley is 4-1 with a 2.92 ERA in 37 innings. Godley is tied for the team lead with 30 strikeouts, while allowing just six walks. Opponents are hitting .221 against him. Senior lefty T.J. Thornton is slated to start on Saturday. Thornton has appeared in seven games with one start and has a 0-0 record with a 5.25 ERA in 12.0 innings. For the series finale, Tennessee will throw sophomore righty Nick Williams (2-2, 1.71 ERA). Sunday will mark the 12th appearance and third start of the season for Williams. He has given up six runs (five earned) on 21 hits in 26.1 innings this season.
In a series that dates back to 1897, the three-game series between Alabama and Tennessee will mark games 100-102 all-time. Alabama holds a 69-30 advantage in the series. When the teams met in Tuscaloosa last season, Tennessee won two of the three games. Alabama won the opening game of the series 8-2, and after game two was rained out, Tennessee won both seven-inning games of a doubleheader, 2-1 and 1-0. The last time UA and Tennessee played in Knoxville, Alabama swept the series with an 11-3 win in the opener, a 4-2 win in 11 innings in game two, and a 9-7 victory to complete the sweep. Alabama is 3-2 in the last five games against Tennessee, 6-4 in the last 10, and 10-5 in the last 15. UA head coach Mitch Gaspard is 4-2 all-time against Tennessee, will all six games coming in his two years at the Capstone.
In its last game, Alabama dropped a mid-week game to the UAB Blazers, 1-0, in 12 innings. UAB got a two-out RBI single by John Frost to drive in Ivan De Jesus for the game's only run. The 12-inning affair between Alabama and UAB was the longest game played in the 60-game history between the two schools. Alabama starting pitcher Trey Pilkington threw a career-high 7.0 innings, while setting a new career-high with eight strikeouts. Pilkington had a no-hitter going through 6.1 innings, and finished the game allowing two hits and one walk. Alabama out-hit UAB 10-6 and had 11 base runners through five innings, but could not get a hit to drive in a run.
Left-handed pitcher Justin Kamplain was named the SEC Freshman of the Week, on March 26. In his only start of the week, Kamplain threw a career-high 7.0 innings on Saturday, as the Crimson Tide defeated No. 17 Mississippi, 3-2. Kamplain carried a no-hitter into the seventh, before allowing a leadoff single to start the inning. He retired the first 14 batters he faced in the game, before allowing one of his two walks with two outs in the fifth. In his 7.0 innings, Kamplain allowed two runs on three hits with a career-high tying six strikeouts
Following the series at Tennessee, the Crimson Ride will remain on the road for a mid-week game at South Alabama on Tuesday, April 3. First pitch for the game at Stanky Field is scheduled for 6 p.m. Alabama returns home on Friday, April 6 to host Auburn for the first game of the three-game SEC series at Sewell Thomas Stadium.
