Baseball Hosts Rival Auburn This Weekend
4/5/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 5, 2012
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - After playing five games on the road, Alabama (10-19, 1-8) returns to Sewell-Thomas Stadium to host the No. 23 ranked Auburn Tigers (17-11, 6-3) for a three-game Southeastern Conference series this weekend. The series gets underway on Friday night at 7:05 p.m. CT. Game two is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. CT, and the series finale will begin at 1:05 p.m. on Sunday.
The series opener will be televised on Fox Sports South with Dave Neal and Larry Conley calling the action. Game two on Saturday will be televised on CSS with Matt Stewart and Rusty Ensor on the call. All games for the 2012 season will be broadcast on the Crimson Tide Sports Network. All three games of the series against Auburn 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 Fun Factory will be setup on the third base side of Sewell-Thomas Stadium for all three games this weekend. Access to the inflatable is free to kids as long as they have a ticket to the game. Friday is Chick-fil-A Day, as the first 300 fans will receive a coupon for a free chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A Northport. Friday is also Super Hero night, with the best super hero costume winning the grand prize. Baseball Bingo returns to The Joe on Saturday and Sunday is Kids Day.
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
FRIDAY W-L ERA G/GS IP H R ER BB SO
UA-Charley Sullivan (Jr., RHP) 2-2 4.42 7/7 38.2 43 19 19 10 23
AUB-Derek Varnadore (Sr., RHP) 1-3 4.06 7/7 44.1 48 24 20 13 34
SATURDAY W-L ERA G/GS IP H R ER BB SO
UA-Justin Kamplain (Fr., LHP) 1-2 3.21 8/6 33.2 26 18 12 21 27
AUB-Will Kendall (So., LHP) 4-0 2.14 8/5 33.2 26 11 8 8 81
SUNDAY W-L ERA G/GS IP H R ER BB SO
UA-Jon Keller (Fr., LHP) 0-1 4.18 12/3 28.0 28 13 13 9 14
AUB-Daniel Koger (Fr., LHP) 2-1 1.85 7/7 43.2 36 13 9 13 25
Following a 9-5 road win at South Alabama on Tuesday, the Crimson Tide is 10-19 this season. The win at South Alabama was UA's second road win of the season and snapped a five-game losing skid for the Tide. Alabama is 1-8 in SEC play after being swept at Tennessee last weekend.
Alabama freshmen Ben Moore had three hits on Tuesday, and is now hitting .365 for the season. Moore is second on the team with 16 RBI and seven doubles. He is second in the SEC with a .429 average during conference play. Over the last 10 games, shortstop Jared Reaves is hitting at a .487 clip (19-39) to lead the Tide, while Ben Moore is hitting .421 (16-38) during that stretch. In the last five games, both Reaves and Moore are hitting .550 (11-for-20). Reaves has hit safely in nine of the last 10 games and has multiple hits in six of those games, including a four-hit game in the series opener at Tennessee. He is hitting .345 for the year, which is third in the squad.
Taylor Dugas was 3-for-4 on Tuesday at USA and is fourth on the team with a .336 average. Dugas leads the team with eight doubles and 16 walks, and is fourth with 13 RBI. Dugas has a .477 on-base percentage, while reaching base safely in all 29 games this season. Including the last 12 of the 2011 season, he's reached base in 41 straight games.
James Tullidge has started six of the last 10 games and is hitting .467 (7-for-15) with a .556 on-base percentage in those games.
The Auburn Tigers enter this weekend's series with a 17-11 overall record and are 6-3 in SEC play, after winning all three series to open conference action. The Tigers are ranked No. 23 in this week's Baseball America poll and No. 27 in the Collegiate Baseball News top-30. The Tigers are hitting .306 as a team, while averaging 6.2 runs and 10.1 hits per game. The Auburn pitching staff has a 3.31 ERA, while holding opponents to a .251 average. AU is allowing 3.9 runs and 8.3 hits per outing. After dropping the first game of the series against Mississippi State, 5-3, Auburn posted a 10-6 win in game two and an 8-2 win on Sunday against the Bulldogs.
Ryan Tella leads the team, and is third in the SEC, with a .396 average. Tella is hitting .417 in SEC play, which is sixth in the conference. Creede Simpson is hitting .339 for the season, leads the team with nine doubles and is tied for third on the squad with 17 RBI. Zach Alvord leads the team with three home runs and 19 RBI. Cullen Wacker is hitting .326 with a team-high 11 extra base hits and is second on the squad with 18 RBI.
Friday starting pitcher Derek Varnador is 1-3 with a 4.06 ERA in 44.1 innings pitched. Saturday starter, Will Kendall has a 4-0 record with a 2.14 ERA in eight appearances, five as a starter. Sunday starter Daniel Koger has a team-best 1.85 ERA with a 2-1 record in 43.2 innings pitched.
In a series that dates back to the 1896 season, Saturday's game between Alabama and Auburn will mark the 264th meeting all-time between the two schools. Following an 8-3 Auburn win in the Capital City Classic on March 6, Alabama is 143-121 all-time against the Tigers. After winning three of the four meetings last season, Auburn has won four of the last five games. The Tigers won the first two games of the SEC series at Plainsman Park last season, before UA posted a 7-6 win on Sunday. In the last series played at Sewell-Thomas Stadium, Alabama won the series 2-1 after winning the first two games.
Alabama collected 13 hits en route to a 9-5 win at South Alabama on Tuesday night. The 13 hits marked the eighth 10-hit performance of the season, and fourth in the last five games for the Tide. UA starting pitcher Spencer Turnbull earned his first career win after throwing a career-high 6.0 innings, and tied his career hit with six strikeouts. Ben Moore notched his 10 multi-hit game of the season with his third three-hit performance of the year. Taylor Dugas also had three hits, giving him 299 for his career. His third inning triple was the 13th of his career, matching Emeel Salem for the school record.
Alabama will play five games next week that includes mid-week games against UAB and Southeastern Louisiana and three SEC games at LSU. The Crimson Tide hosts UAB on Tuesday night at 6:05 p.m., from Sewell-Thomas Stadium. UA then travels to Southeastern Louisiana for a Wednesday night game, which begins at 6 p.m. CT. The Tide continues SEC play with a three-game series at No. 12 LSU, beginning Friday night at 7 p.m. CT, from Alex Box Stadium. Saturday's game will be televised on Cox Sports and will start at 6:30 p.m. CT. The series finale is scheduled to start at noon CT and will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
