Baseball Sweeps Tuesday Doubleheader vs. Mississippi Valley State

Tuesday, April 21

Hoover, Ala.

TBA

Alabama

21-18

Mississippi Valley State

6-28-1

Miss Valley State

Alabama

Baseball Sweeps Tuesday Doubleheader vs. Mississippi Valley State

4/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

April 21, 2015

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The Alabama baseball team swept both ends of today's traditional doubleheader vs. Mississippi Valley State, following up game one's 3-1 win with a commanding 16-5 victory in game two.

Starters Nick Eicholtz and Will Carter combined for 12.0 strong innings of work, while Georgie Salem collected a team-best four hits, including two triples, four RBI and three runs scored. With today's two victories, Alabama improves to 22-18 on the season.

"It's always good to win, but when you win two in a day, that's even better," said Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard. "I think our team understands what's at stake, and they have a sense of urgency. All these wins are big for us right now."

GAME 1
Nick Eicholtz' strong 7.0 innings of work helped propel the Tide to a 3-1 win over Mississippi Valley State in game one of Tuesday afternoon's doubleheader. In just his third start of the season, Eicholtz turned in a career-high 7.0 quality frames to help stamp the victory.

Eicholtz scattered just three hits, holding the Delta Devils to only one run while striking out five. The Tide also received 2.0 scoreless innings of relief from right-hander Ray Castillo, who notched his fourth save of the season in his team-leading 17th appearance out of the bullpen.

"It was good for Nick to go seven innings," said Gaspard of his game-one starter. "You could see his confidence building throughout the game. Including today, he's had two or three really good outings, and that's what we want to see. Ray pitched really well, too. He came in and shut it down for us to help us get the first win of the day."

Mikey White and Chance Vincent each turned in multi-hit efforts for the Tide. White finished the evening 2-for-3 with one run scored, while Vincent wrapped up game one 2-for-3 with a double. Georgie Salem and Kyle Overstreet each registered an RBI apiece to round out the Crimson Tide scoring.

GAME 2
The Tide followed up the game one win with a commanding 16-5 victory to sweep today's doubleheader with the Delta Devils. The Alabama offense plated seven runs in the bottom of the first, and built a 10-0 lead by the end of the second in support of a strong outing from starter Will Carter.

Alabama sent 11 batters to the plate in the home half of the first, plating seven runs on five hits -- including a pair of triples - and three walks. The Tide's three-four-five hitters strung together three consecutive RBI-hits resulting in four runs, before Salem and Vincent capped the frame with a pair of RBI-singles.

The Tide plated another three runs in the bottom of the second to build a 10-0 cushion in support of Carter. The junior righty followed Eicholtz' dominant performance in game one with a strong outing of his own, striking out six and limiting the Delta Devils to just three runs on eight hits over 5.0 innings. Carter surrendered three runs in the third, but held Mississippi Valley State scoreless in each of his other final four frames of work.

"It was good to get two wins today," Gaspard added. "Our focus right now will immediately shift to Ole Miss. This series in Oxford is a really big one for both teams."

Alabama will travel to Oxford for a three-game, weekend series at Ole Miss. Saturday's contest will air on SEC Network, while Sunday will be televised on ESPN. Friday's series opener will kick off at 6:30 p.m. CT with Saturday scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. CT. First pitch for Sunday's series final will come at Noon CT.

Get all the latest information on the team by following AlabamaBSB on Twitter and Instagram and on Facebook at Alabama Baseball. General athletic news can be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and AlabamaAthletics on Facebook.

ALABAMA POSTGAME NOTES

Game one of tonight's doubleheader lasted 2:01. That is the shortest game time for a nine-inning contest this season. The previous season low was a 2:10 win over Louisiana-Lafayette on Feb. 27.
The 2:01 is the Crimson Tide's shortest game since Alabama fell, 1-0 at No. 4 South Carolina on April, 27, 2012.
Nick Eicholtz tossed a career-high 7.0 innings in his start during game one.
The five punchouts tied his season high. Eicholtz has now recorded five strikeouts in his last three appearances (two starts, one relief outing).
The sophomore earned his third win of the season to tie his total from a year ago. Last season, Eicholtz made 20 appearances (nine starts) and finished 3-2.
Ray Castillo made his team-leading 17th appearance when he entered to close out game one.
Castillo earned his fourth save of the season across his 2.0 innings of work.
Will Carter earned his first win since his season-opening start on Feb. 14 vs. Maryland Eastern Shore.
Carter has allowed three runs or less in each of his last three starts.
The junior did not issue a walk in tonight's start, the first time he has done so this season (10 total starts).
Tyler Adams made his season debut in game two of today's doubleheader. He tossed 1.0 innings and walked one while striking out two batters.
The Alabama bullpen allowed two runs in game two. It was the first run the relievers allowed in the last 16.2 IP, dating back to the second game of the Georgia series on April 11.
The Crimson Tide cut down four runners on the basepaths in the first game of tonight's doubleheader.
Georgie Salem finished a perfect 4-for-4 with two triples in game two of the day. The four hits are his most in a single game since he recorded five vs. Stephen F. Austin on Feb. 21 of last season.
His two triples are the first time in his career that the junior has recorded two three-baggers in the same game. He had recorded two triples total across his first 161 games of his career.
Salem also added three RBI, a feat he has accomplished twice this season (also, last weekend at Missouri in game one of the Saturday doubleheader).
Salem recorded his team-leading 13th stolen base of the season in game two.
Mikey White recorded his team-leading sixth triple of the season in game two.
Kyle Overstreet and Cody Henry each recorded three runs scored in game two. The three runs mark the second time this season Overstreet has accomplished the task (also, April 7 at Samford.) The three runs scored are a career-high total for Henry.
Henry also recorded two hits in the second game of the evening and has now recorded multi-hit efforts in seven games this season, all of which have come since he has started at first base.