Baseball Travels to Tallahassee for NCAA Regional
5/29/2013 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 29, 2013
UA Game Notes_NCAA Regional 
|2013 NCAA Tournament Bracket | Tallahassee Regional Bracket
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama Crimson Tide (34-26, 14-15 SEC) will travel to Tallahassee Florida to for the opening round of the 2013 NCAA Baseball Championship. Alabama opens the Tallahassee Regional on Friday, May 31, against the Troy Trojans (40-18), with first pitch scheduled for 11:05 a.m. CDT , at Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium. The game between Alabama and Troy will be televised on ESPNU and ESPN3.com, with Adam Amin and Rod Delmonico calling the action.
All Alabama baseball games throughout the 2013 season will be broadcast by the Crimson Tide Sports Network (CTSN). Every game of the NCAA Baseball Championship will be broadcast on 95.3 The Bear in Tuscaloosa, with Chris Stewart and Lee Tracey calling the action. Livestats will be available on RollTide.com and all games will be broadcast on ESPN3.com.
Should Alabama defeat the Trojans in the first game of the regional, the Tide will play at 4 p.m. CST on Saturday. If Bama loses to Troy on Friday, the Tide would play at 11 a.m. CDT on Saturday. Alabama will play either Florida State (44-15) or Savannah State (33-21) in the second game of the regional. Florida State was an at-large entry into the NCAA Baseball Championships, while the Tigers earned the automatic bid as the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champions.
Friday's game between Alabama and Troy will mark the second meeting of the season between the two schools. In a midweek game, Alabama posted an 11-2 win over the 25th-ranked Trojans, when the teams met in Tuscaloosa on May 8. When UA and Troy meet on Friday, it will mark the fourth meeting in an NCAA Regional between the two teams. Alabama defeated the Trojans 8-5 in the first game of the 1997 South II Regional, played in Tuscaloosa. The Tide defeated Troy twice in the 2006 Tuscaloosa Regional to win the championship. Both years that Alabama faced Troy in the NCAA tournament, the Tide went on to win that regional championship.
Alabama is coming off a 2-2 finish in the 2013 SEC Tournament that included wins over Auburn (6-3) and Mississippi (7-5) and a pair of losses to LSU (3-0 and 3-2). Alabama entered the SEC Baseball Tournament as the number-seven seed after posting a 14-15 record against SEC opponents. The Tide won five of their 10 conference series.
The Tide will start senior right handed pitcher Charley Sullivan on Friday against Troy. Sullivan has a 5-6 record with a 3.56 ERA in 15 starts in 2013. He has a team-high 75 strikeouts in a team-leading 91.0 innings pitched.
ALABAMA IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
• Alabama will be making its 23rd NCAA Regional appearance. The Tide has a 66-45 (.594) in 109 career NCAA tournament games.
• UA has been to the NCAA Tournament in five of the last six seasons. Alabama missed the 2012 NCAA tournament, snapping a four-year run.
• UA is making their fourth trip to Tallahassee for an NCAA Regional. Alabama played in Tallahassee in 1983, 1991 and 2011. The Tide is 8-4 in NCAA Regional games in Tallahassee.
• Mitch Gaspard's led the Tide to the NCAA Tournament in three of his four seasons as the head coach at Alabama. This is Gaspard's fifth NCAA tournament as a head coach (Northwestern State, 2005).
• Alabama's last NCAA Regional championship came in 2010 when the Tide defeated the No. 8 national seed Georgia Tech. UA lost to Clemson in three games in the 2010 Super Regional.
• Alabama's last trip to the College World Series came in 1999. The 1999 trip to Omaha marked the fifth CWS trip in school history.
• The Tide lost in the 1997 championship game to LSU, to finish runner-up for the second time in school history. The 1983 team lost to Texas in the championship game.
ABOUT THE TROY TROJANS
• Troy earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Tallahassee Regional as the three seed.
• The Trojans finished the regular season with a 40-18 overall record after finishing tied for the Sun Belt Conference regular season title with a 20-10 record.
• The Trojans are ranked No. 26 by Collegiate Baseball News.
• Troy is hitting .295 as a team, while averaging 7.3 runs and 9.9 hits per game.
• The Trojans' pitching staff has a 4.06 ERA while holding opponents to a .252 average.
• Logan Pierce leads the team with a .373 batting average with 23 doubles, a triple, eight home runs and 62 RBI.
• Danny Collins is hitting .363 and leads the club with 24 doubles to go along with 11 home runs and a team-best 67 RBI.
• Trae Santos leads the team with 16 home runs and is second on the team with 66 RBI. He is hitting .292.
• Tyler Vaughn is hitting .339, Josh McDorman has a .316 average.
ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS TROY
• Wednesday's game between Alabama and Troy will make the 29th meeting all-time between the two schools.
• Following an 11-2 win over Troy on May 8, Alabama holds a 19-8 record against the Trojans, in a series that dates back to the 1941 campaign.
• The Tide has won four of the last five meetings in the all-time series.
LAST TIME VERSUS TROY
• In the only meeting of the season, Alabama defeated Troy, 11-2, in Tuscaloosa on May 8, 2013.
• Troy scored a run in the first inning, before Alabama scored once in the first, twice in the third and once in the fourth and fifth innings to take a 5-1 lead.
• UA blew the game open with a six-run eighth inning, capped by a two-run Brett Booth home run.
• Alabama had 13 hits in the game, as Ben Moore and Kenny Roberts had three hits each. Moore had three RBI and scored twice, while Roberts had two RBI and two runs scored.
• Roberts also homered for the Tide and Troy's Matthew Howard homered in the ninth for the Trojans.
• Taylor Guilbeau earned the win for Alabama after allowing one run on seven hits with five strikeouts in 5.0 innings.
ABOUT THE FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES
• Florida State enters the Tallahassee Regional as the No. 7 seed overall and is ranked anywhere from No. 9 to No. 11 in the baseball polls.
• The Seminoles dropped all four games in the ACC Tournament and enter the regional with a 44-15 overall record after posting a 20-10 mark in conference play.
• The Seminoles were outstanding at home during the regular season, posting a 32-3 record on Mike Martin Field.
• FSU is hitting .284 as a team, while averaging 6.5 runs and 9.2 hits per game.
• The leading hitter for Florida State is freshman outfielder DJ Stewart with a .348 average. Stewart leads the team with 71 hits and 22 doubles to go along with 43 runs scored, two triples, four home runs and 51 RBI.
• Stewart only trails Marcus Davis' team-leading RBI total of 55. Davis is hitting at a .298 clip, while leading the team with nine home runs and 53 runs scored.
• Jose Brizuela is second on the team with a .320 average and Stephen McGee is second on the squad with eight home runs.
• Scott Sitz has a 1.73 ERA to lead all the FSU starters in that category. Sitz has a 9-1 record in 14 starts, with 67 strikeouts in 83.0 innings pitched.
Luke Weaver, who has a 2.13 ERA leads the team with 100 strikeouts in 84.1 innings pitched.
• Robby Coles has nine of the team's 13 saves this season, posting a 4-2 record with a 1.60 ERA in 33.2 innings.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. FLORIDA STATE
• Alabama and Florida State have played nine times dating back to the 1967 season.
• Florida State holds a 7-2 advantage in the series, after defeating the Tide twice in the 2011 Tallahassee Regional.
• Of the nine games between the two schools, six have come in the NCAA Tournament. Alabama is 1-5 in those games.
• Alabama won the first ever meeting between the two schools, 4-3, on March 23, 1967. The Seminoles returned the favor two days later with a 1-0 win over the Tide in the Seminole Classic.
• In the only other non-NCAA Tournament game, FSU defeated the Tide, 18-16, in a game played in Dothan, Ala., on March 23, 1984.
ABOUT THE SAVANNAH STATE TIGERS
• Savannah State earned the Mid-Eastern Athletics Conference automatic bid to earn the school's first ever Division I NCAA Tournament appearance.
• The Tigers enter the NCAA Tournament with a 33-21 overall record after posting a 17-7 MEAC record.
• SSU defeated Bethune-Cookman, 1-0 in 10 innings, to win the MEAC Tournament Championship, earning the automatic entry into this year's NCAA Tournament.
• The Tigers are hitting .271 as a team while averaging 5.3 runs and 8.8 hits per game. SSU has just seven home runs this season.
• The pitching staff for SSU has a 4.85 ERA, while holding opponents to a .278 batting average. The Tigers are allowing 5.7 runs and 9.3 hits per game.
• Todd Hagen leads the team with a .320 average and 39 runs scored, with 12 doubles and 26 RBI.
• David Richards leads the team with five triples and two home runs, while hitting .303 for the season.
• Joseph McCrary has a team-high 32 RBI and Parker Nix has a team-high 13 doubles.
• Leading the Tigers on the mound is junior right-handed pitcher Kyle McGowin. McGowin is 12-1 with a 1.33 ERA in 16 appearances and 14 starts. He has four complete games, with 129 strikeouts in 115.1 innings pitched.
• Eric Ricks has five saves to lead the team and McGowin has two of the team's 10 saves this season.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. SAVANNAH STATE
• Should Alabama and Savannah State meet in the NCAA Tallahassee regional, it will mark the first ever meeting between the two schools.
LAST TIME OUT FOR THE TIDE
• Alabama was eliminated from the SEC Tournament following a 3-2 loss to No. 2 LSU.
• The Tigers scored twice with two outs in the top of the ninth inning to defeat the Tide for the fourth time this season.
• LSU got the game-tying run on a double by Tyler Moore and the game-winning run on a RBI single by Ty Ross.
• Alabama freshman walk-on Mike Oczypok kept the Tigers in check for most of the game, throwing a career-high 8.2 innings, allowing three runs on 10 hits.
• Mikey White had two of Alabama's four hits in the game. White had an RBI and a run scored in UA's two-run fifth inning.
ALABAMA QUICK HITTERS
• Alabama had two season-long six-game winning streaks.
• The Tide is 18-9 against non-conference opponents this season and had a 12-3 record in midweek games.
• The Crimson Tide is 29-3 when leading after six, 29-2 when leading after seven and 31-1 when leading after eight innings.
• The Tide has 416 strikeouts to rank seventh in the SEC, while its 166 looking strikeouts lead the conference. Alabama pitchers are averaging 6.9 strikeouts per game.
• The Tide is 51-for-77 (.662) in stolen base attempts and ranks tied for sixth in the SEC in stolen bases.
• Alabama is outscoring its opponents 35-28 in the first inning, 47-23 in the fourth, 44-26 in the fifth, 38-17 in the sixth inning and 46-35 in the eighth inning. However, Bama is being outscored 40-25 in the second, 36-32 in the seventh, 19-11 in the ninth and 8-2 in extra innings.
• Alabama has converted 20 of its 22 save opportunities this season. Alabama third in the SEC in saves and trails Vanderbilt (23) and South Carolina (21).
• Brett Booth, who had 10 walks in 55 games last season and 29 in three seasons entering the year, has 27 walks this season. He is also second on the team with 44 runs scored.
• Defensively, Booth has thrown out 36-of-77 (46.7 percent) runners trying to steal, and with six pick-offs, he's thrown out a total of 42 runners this season. His 36 runners caught stealing are the most in the SEC. The next best in the SEC is Mississippi's Stuart Turner with 21.
• Alabama second baseman Kyle Overstreet leads the SEC with 62 fielding double plays, shortstop Mikey White and first baseman Austen Smith are third in the conference with 52 fielding double plays.
MIKEY IS "WHITE HOT"
• Freshman shortstop Mikey White has been the hottest hitter for the Tide over the last two months of the season, and now leads the club with a .286 average.
• White's average dipped to a season low .194 average after 19 games, White has seen his average climb .092 points over the last 41 games of the season.
• Over the last 41 games, White hit .331 to lead the team during that stretch. Over his last 30 games, White posted a .342 average, and in the last 20 games he's hitting at a .385 clip with 10 multi-hit games.
• In the last 10 games, White has a .450 average and a .650 slugging percentage with three doubles, a triple and a home run.
• White finished the 29-game SEC schedule with a team-best .350 batting, Kyle Overstreet was second at .291, to post the eight-best average during conference play.
CASTILLO CLOSING GAMES OUT
• Freshman right-hander Ray Castillo has turned in 11 of Alabama's 20 saves this season, which is two off the school record of 22 by the 2002 team.
• Castillo had converted 11-of-13 save chances this season, and his 11 saves rank ninth best in the SEC.
• His 11 saves are tied with Jonathan Smart (2011), Lance Cormier (1999) and Skip Ames (1996) for the fourth most in a season in school history.
• With 11 saves this season, Castillo tied Lance Cornier for the most saves in a season by a freshman.
• As a team, Alabama has converted 20-of-22 save chances and rank third in the SEC in total saves.
POSITION PLAYER NOTES
• Mikey White and Brett Booth paced the Tide with a .313 (5-for-16) average in the SEC Tournament ... White recorded his first career triple in the tournament, while leading the team with four RBI in the four games ... White leads the team with a .286 average after hitting .350 in 29 SEC games.
• Ben Moore is second on the team with a .284 average, but leads the team with 40 RBI, 12 doubles, four triples and a .427 slugging percentage ... Moore also has four home runs and 40 runs scored this season.
• Brett Booth and Austen Smith are tied for the team lead with six home runs ... Smith is second on the team with 37 RBI, while Booth is fourth with 35 RBI.
PITCHING NOTES
• Jay Shaw threw a career-high 5.0 innings in the SEC tournament opener against Auburn ... Shaw allowed no runs on four hits with a walk and a strikeout ... Shaw has allowed just one run in his last 18.1 innings pitched, and has a team-best 1.28 ERA in 26.0 innings pitched.
• Tucker Hawley picked up his fifth win of the year to improve to 5-2 on the year, after throwing three scoreless innings against Mississippi ... in 19 appearance, five as a starter, Hawley has a 2.60 ERA in 45.0 innings pitched.
• Charley Sullivan went the distance, throwing eight innings in a losing effort against LSU ... after allowing three runs in the first inning, Sullivan blanked the Tigers over the next seven innings ... in his 15 starts this season, Sullivan has posted eight quality starts.
TIDE THIRD NATIONALLY IN DOUBLE PLAYS
• After turning 10 double plays in four SEC Tournament games, Alabama has turned a total of 76 double plays this season.
• Towson leads the country with 79 double plays and Southern Mississippi is second with 78.
• UA ranks third in the country in total double plays and its 1.26 double plays per game.
TIDE SETS RECORD FOR EXTRA-INNING GAMES
• The 10-inning game against Mississippi marked the ninth extra-inning game of the season for Alabama, which sets a new school record.
• All nine games have been against top-25 opponents and the Tide is 3-6 in extra-inning games.
• The Tide's previous record for extra-inning games in a season was eight, when the 1986 team posted a 6-2 record.
SMITH SETS SCHOOL RECORD FOR PUTOUTS
• In the 14-inning game to open the series at No. 5 Louisville (March 8), Austen Smith recorded 21 putouts to set an Alabama single-game record.
• Smith topped Clay Jones' single-game record when the first baseman recorded 18 putouts against LSU on April 18, 2010, also a 14-inning game.
• In three seasons with the Tide, Smith has 1,140 career putouts, after recording 51 putouts in the SEC Tournament.
• With the 51 putouts in the SEC Tournament, passed Gary Jack (1,114) for fourth all-time. He now needs 122 more putouts to pass Hunter Plott (1987-91) for third all-time.
FRESHMEN IN THE LINEUP
• When the Tide opened the season on Feb. 15, there were four freshmen in the starting lineup, including three true freshmen up the middle of the field.
• The three true freshmen were shortstop Mikey White, second baseman Kyle Overstreet and center fielder Georgie Salem, and redshirt freshman Ryan Blanchard started in left field.
• White, Overstreet and Salem have gone on to start all 60 games during the regular season for the Tide.
• In addition to starting in the middle of the UA defense, the three hit in the top three spots in the order for the first seven games, with Salem at leadoff, White hitting second and Overstreet third.
• This season, Alabama has had as many as five freshmen in the starting lineup throughout the course of the season.
• The double play duo of White and Overstreet been involved with 44 of the 76 twin-killings that Alabama has turned this season, while one or the other has been involved in all but three double plays this season.
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