Guilbeau's Strong Start Lifts Baseball Past Lipscomb, 5-1

Friday, March 6

Mobile, Ala. (Hank Aaron Stadium)

7:00 p.m

Alabama

8-5

Lipscomb

7-3

Lipscomb

Alabama

Guilbeau's Strong Start Lifts Baseball Past Lipscomb, 5-1

3/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 6, 2015

Box Score | PDF Box Score

MOBILE, Ala. - Senior Taylor Guilbeau tossed 8.0+ innings on Friday evening to provide time for the Crimson Tide offense to tally a five-run seventh inning and claim the eventual 5-1 victory over Lipscomb inside Hank Aaron Stadium. With tonight's victory, Alabama improves to 8-5 on the season.

"Taylor Guilbeau did a great job tonight to help us get the win," said Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard. "He gave us a solid start when we needed it. Offensively, we put a good inning together in the seventh, and that was ultimately what decided the game tonight."

The southpaw turned in another standout performance on the young season, allowing just one earned run while recording six strikeouts on the way to nearly tossing the second complete game of his career. Guilbeau made it through eight-plus innings of work before allowing the first two runners to reach in the ninth, leading to a Crimson Tide pitching change. Sophomore Thomas Burrows came in and made quick work of the Bisons, striking out all three batters he faced to secure his first save and the win for UA.

Alabama's offense was cold all night, but heated up for the seventh inning. After the stretch, Alabama erupted for five runs on just one hit and two errors. The inning started with a Chance Vincent walk, and then a perfectly placed sacrifice bunt by Will Haynie resulted in a fielding error by the Bison pitcher to put runners on first and second with no outs. Riley Colburn stepped in and was hit by a pitch to load the bases and end the Lipscomb starter's evening.

Chandler Avant was the first batter to greet the new pitcher, and the freshman battled to earn the bases-loaded walk. Mikey White came up two batters later and recorded a sac fly to give Alabama its second run of the inning and advance the runners. With two in scoring position, Mobile native Casey Hughston kept his hot streak going with a single to center to clear the bases and come through in a huge way for the Tide.

Hughston followed that up by stealing second, and then one pitch later stealing third. On his swipe of third, Lipscomb's catcher tossed the ball into left field and allowed Hughston to score for the Tide's fifth run of the inning. The scoring ended there, but the five runs would prove more than enough.

"He's really been the catalyst for us," Gaspard said of his cleanup hitter Hughston. "He got the big hit right there to extend our lead, and then he created havoc on the bases to score another run for us. He's off to a great start this year, and he's been really fun to watch."

Lipscomb kicked off the night's scoring with a bunt single from its leadoff man, Michael Gigliotti. The center fielder moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt and then moved over to third on a wild pitch. A single through the left side would bring one run in for the Bisons, but they could not add any more by game's end.

The Tide and Bisons will face off for the second game of the three-game series tomorrow evening inside Hank Aaron Stadium. The two teams are set for a 7 p.m. first pitch with UA tossing junior Will Carter and LU countering with senior lefty Nick Andros.

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ALABAMA POSTGAME NOTES

This evening's contest marked the first game that the Crimson Tide did not record at least one extra-base hit.
The three hits in tonight's game were the fewest recorded by UA this season.
Tonight marked Alabama's first win of the season in which they were outhit by the opponent.
Alabama tied its season high for walks collected with seven (also, vs. UMES on 2/13).
Taylor Guilbeau tossed 8.0+ innings, the second-longest start of his career. The only start that went longer for the lefty was his nine-inning, complete game against Kennesaw State in the Tallahassee Regional on June 1 of last season.
Guilbeau tossed a season-high 106 pitches, 67 of which went for strikes.
Georgie Salem's walk in the third inning of tonight's contest marked the 17th consecutive game that the junior has reached base. His streak now includes all 13 games this season and four contests at the end of last year. He surpassed his previous career-high of 14, which came at the start of his Alabama career from Feb. 15 to March 19, 2013.
Casey Hughston's two RBI in the bottom of the seventh marked the 11th game this season in which he has recorded one or more RBI. He has recorded at least one RBI in each of his last five contests.
His two hits mark the ninth game of the season in which he has recorded multiple hits.
Hughston also stole three bases on the night and now has six in six attempts thus far. That marks the second time this season that the Crimson Tide has had a player record three stolen bases in a game (also, Georgie Salem vs. Savannah State - Game 1).
Alabama as a team have collected 20 stolen bases across the first 13 games. The 2014 Tide had 32 total across 61 games played.
Mikey White's hitting streak of seven games came to an end tonight. White batted .423 (11-26) with four doubles, three triples, one home run, eight RBI, 12 runs scored, one walk, three HBP and a stolen base over that time (2/22 at Houston-3/3 vs. Auburn).
White did record an RBI in the game, and has recorded at least one RBI in five consecutive contests and six of his last seven.
Thomas Burrows earned his first save of the season tonight, striking out all three batters he faced and stranding two runners.