Baseball to Host UAB Tuesday; at Southeastern Louisiana Wednesday
4/9/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 9, 2012
Tuscaloosa, Ala. - Alabama will play five games this week that includes mid-week games against UAB and at Southeastern Louisiana and three SEC games at No. 5 LSU. The Crimson Tide hosts UAB (19-14) on Tuesday night at 6:05 p.m. CT, from Sewell-Thomas Stadium. UA then travels to Southeastern Louisiana (22-11) for a Wednesday night game, which begins at 6 p.m. CT.
Alabama (13-19) posted its first SEC series win of the season with a sweep of No. 23 Auburn. UA has won four straight games, matching its season-high for consecutive wins. UAB dropped two of three games to No. 14 Central Florida last weekend. UAB won the first game of the series, 11-4. Southeastern Louisiana is coming off back-to-back losses to Central Arkansas over the weekend.
All games for the 2012 season will be broadcast on the Crimson Tide Sports Network. This week's 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 the UAB contest, and Tracey will be solo for the SELU game and the LSU series. Audio and live stats will be available at RollTide.com.
Probable Starting Pitcher Matchups
Tuesday W-L ERA G/GS IP H R ER BB SO
UA-Spencer Turnbull (Fr., RHP) 1-2 7.03 9/4 24.1 28 19 19 12 24
UAB-Ruben Tresgallo (Soph., RHP) 1-0 6.75 5/0 6.2 8 6 5 3 3
Wednesday W-L ERA G/GS IP H R ER BB SO
UA-Case Nixon (Soph., RHP) 0-1 4.35 6/1 10.1 8 6 5 8 13
SLU-Sean Kennel (Soph., RHP) 0-0 7.36 4/0 3.2 6 3 3 1 3
Taylor Dugas was named the SEC Co-Player of the Week, after hitting .529 (9-for-17) last week. Dugas is now hitting .350 for the season, after setting the school record with his 14th career triple last week, and tying Dave Magadan's school record of 64 doubles. Dugas also had his first career walk-off hit, when he homered to end game two against Auburn. After hitting .412 last week, UA freshman outfielder Ben Moore continues to lead the team with a .362 average entering the week. Brett Booth homered in game three against Auburn and leads the team with three home runs and 23 RBI.
Jake Hubbard leads the Tide with a 2.66 ERA and two saves, after throwing 3.2 scoreless innings last week. Hubbard allowed one hit with five strikeouts in three appearances last week. Taylor Guilbeau picked up his third win of the season on Saturday to lead the Tide with three victories.
After losing two of three games to No. 14 Central Florida last week, UAB is 19-14 on the season. The Blazers are hitting .273 for the season, while averaging 4.9 runs and 9.6 hits per outing. The UAB pitching staff has a 3.82 ERA, while holding opponents to a .258 average. The Blazers are allowing 4.6 runs and 8.8 hits per outing. In the first meeting of the season between UAB and Alabama on March 27, the Blazers posted a 1-0 win in 12 innings.
Jeff Schalk leads the Blazers with a .336 average for the season. Schalk has a team-high 17 walks and leads the club with a .431 on-base percentage. Patrick Palmeiro leads the team with 11 doubles and 22 RBI, and is one of nine players with one home run this season. UAB is scheduled to start right-hander Rube Tresgallo on Tuesday. Tresgallo is 1-0 with a 6.75 ERA in five relief appearances this season.
In a series that dates back to 1974, Tuesday's game between Alabama and UAB will mark the 61st game played between the two schools. Alabama holds a 42-18 advantage in the series overall, after the Blazers posted a 1-0 win in 12 innings on March 27. The teams played twice during the 2011 season, with each team winning its home game. Alabama defeated the Blazers 6-3 at Sewell-Thomas Stadium, while UAB posted a 5-1 win in the game played at Regions Park. UA is 1-4 in the last five games versus UAB and 7-3 in the last 10 games against the Blazers. UA head coach Mitch Gaspard is 1-4 all-time against UAB, with all five games in three years at UA.
The Southeastern Louisiana Lions enter this week with a 22-11 overall record. After winning the opening game of the series versus Central Arkansas, 5-4, the Lions dropped the final two games, 8-4 and 4-3, respectively. SE Louisiana enters Wednesday's game with a .267 batting average, while averaging 5.1 runs and 8.3 hits per game. The pitching staff has a 3.21 ERA with a .225 opponent batting average. SELU is allowing 7.3 hits and 3.8 runs per game.
Brock Hebert leads the team with a .403 average, and is one of two players hitting over .300 this season. Hebert has 17 RBI and leads the team with 13 doubles. Jonathan Pace is second on the team with a .385 average and 23 RBI. Cody Gougler leads the team with two home runs and 28 RBI. Sean Kennel will be making his fifth appearance of the season and first start on Wednesday. Kennell has thrown just 3.2 innings and has a 7.36 ERA.
In a series that dates back to 1980, Wednesday's game between Alabama and Southeastern Louisiana will mark the 12th game played between the two schools. Alabama holds a 10-1 advantage in the series overall, after the Lions posted a 6-2 win over the Tide in the South Alabama Classic last season. In the last meeting in Hammond, La., the Crimson Tide posted a 10-5 win over the No. 23 ranked Lions on April 14, 2010. UA is 2-0 in games played in Hammond, 8-0 in Tuscaloosa, and 0-1 in neutral site games against SELU. Mitch Gaspard is 14-7 all-time versus SELU, including a 1-1 record in three years at UA.
With the 6-2 win over Auburn on April 8, UA head coach Mitch Gaspard earned his 300th career win as a Division I head coach. In 510 games, Gaspard's career record now stands a 300-210 (.588). When Alabama took the field on March 23, against Mississippi, Crimson Tide head coach Mitch Gaspard coached his 500th Division I baseball game. The March 17 game at Arkansas marked the 150th for Gaspard as the head coach at Alabama. Gaspard is 90-72 (.555) in three years at UA. Gaspard coached 348 games at Northwestern State (2002-07), where he posted a 210-138 record.
Follow the Alabama Crimson Tide baseball team on Facebook at Alabama-Baseball and on Twitter at @AlabamaBSB.
