Alabama Baseball Travels to Nashville to Face Vanderbilt for Final Regular-Season Series

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama travels to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt at Hawkins Field to close out the 2017 regular-season schedule from Thursday-Saturday. The Crimson Tide and Commodores are set for a 6:30 p.m. CT first pitch in games one and two of the pairing before the series wraps up at 1 p.m. CT on Saturday. All three games will air live on SEC Network+.

Follow the Tide

Fans can follow the three-game series via the below outlets:

Watch: SEC Network+
Listen: 102.9 FM / CTSN / TuneIn App
Twitter: @AlabamaBSB
Live Stats: VUCommodores.com

Leading Off

Alabama and Vanderbilt will meet for the 153rd time on Thursday night in Nashville to start the three game series. The Crimson Tide holds the 92-58-2 all-time advantage in UA's longest-standing SEC pairing in program history that dates back to 1893 - Alabama baseball's second year in existence. The Tide holds a 27-24 advantage in games played in Nashville, but VU has won four of the last five series on their home turf.
Vanderbilt welcomes the Crimson Tide to Nashville with a 31-21 record and a 13-13 mark in Southeastern Conference play. The Commodores are coming off a 17-7 win over in-state foe Middle Tennessee on Tuesday evening at Hawkins Field. Vandy is 4-4-1 in SEC series this year and most recently fell, 1-2, to Arkansas this past weekend in Fayetteville.
The Crimson Tide will feature a trio of right-handed starters for the three-game series in Nashville. Freshman Deacon Medders is scheduled to start Friday's series opener, his first SEC start of his collegiate career. On Saturday, the Tide will look to junior Jake Walters while the series finale will feature senior Nick Eicholtz.
The Commodores have announced starters for the first two games of the series with Saturday's starter still to be announced. Sophomore right-hander Patrick Raby will get the nod in Thursday's opener before junior righty Kyle Wright takes the hill on Saturday.

Probably Pitching Matchups

Thursday

UA – Deacon Medders (Fr., RHP) vs. VU – Patrick Raby (So., RHP)

Friday

UA – Jake Walters (Jr., RHP) vs. VU – Kyle Wright (Jr., RHP)

Saturday

UA – Nick Eicholtz (Sr., RHP) vs. VU – TBA

Scouting Alabama

Alabama finished its final week at home with a 1-3 record, first taking down Grambling on Tuesday by a score of 12-2 in a run-rule, eight-inning affair, before suffering three consecutive losses to seventh-ranked Florida.
A pitchers' duel between Alabama and No. 7 Florida went in favor of the Gators, 2-1, in Friday's series opener. The Crimson Tide received a quality start from Jake Walters. The junior tossed 7.0 innings of one-run baseball, allowing only two hits and issuing a pair of walks while striking out a season-high tying eight batters. Walters' lone mistake of the night came on a 3-1 pitch to JJ Schwarz for a solo home run in the seventh.
Walters was matched by Florida starter Alex Faedo, who worked 7.0 innings and allowed only one run, as well. Faedo gave up three hits and four walks with eight strikeouts to his name by night's end. Together, the two starters combined for 16 punchouts and collected a total of 11 one-pitch outs, with neither factoring into the decision.
Alabama fell, 13-6, on Saturday night. Florida grabbed an early one-run lead after a half inning but UA answered back with three runs in the home half of the first to take the lead. The Gators moved in front thanks to a four-run third, but the Tide fought to cut the deficit to one in the bottom of the sixth before stranding the tying and go-ahead runs on second and third to end the inning. Florida went on to rally for seven runs across the seventh and eighth to put the game out of reach.
UA's comeback effort fell short on Sunday, as the Gators claimed a 10-5 win in the series finale. Alabama rallied back from a 7-1 deficit to make it a 7-5 contest after seven, but Florida flexed its muscle to plate three in the top of the eighth powered by back-to-back home runs, to put the game out of reach.
The Crimson Tide used a pair of grand slams and 14 combined hits to take down Grambling, 12-2, on Wednesday evening in Tuscaloosa to close out the non-conference slate with a 14-10 record for the season.
Alabama's offense collected 14 total hits with 12 of the 13 Tide batters reaching base safely and eight of the nine UA starters recording at least one hit against Grambling. The offense was highlighted by grand slams from Hunter Alexander and John Trousdale. Alexander finished 1-for-3 with the homer, two runs scored, a pair of walks and a season-high four RBI. Trousdale's grand slam walked it off for the Crimson Tide for the run-rule win after eight innings, as the freshman finished 1-for-2 with four RBI and a run.
Freshman starter Deacon Medders earned his second win of the year, throwing a season-long 6.0 innings of scoreless baseball. Medders allowed only three hits and issued two walks while striking out four across his career-high 97 pitches of work.
The Crimson Tide returned to Tuscaloosa in 2016 after spending 2015 on the road while Sewell-Thomas Stadium was undergoing renovations. Alabama finished with a 19-12 home record at The Joe compared to a 13-14 record in road and neutral-site contests in the first year of the new stadium.
Alabama's roster features 20 letterwinners from the 2016 squad that reached the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala. The 2017 Tide returns five positional starters and three starting pitchers while welcoming 16 newcomers.

Series History - Vanderbilt

Alabama and Vanderbilt will meet for the 153rd time on Thursday night in Nashville to start the three-game set.
The series between the Crimson Tide and Commodores is Alabama's longest-standing series against an SEC opponent, dating back to 1893 in the UA baseball program's second year in existence.
Alabama holds the all-time advantage, 92-58-2, and is 27-24 in games played in Nashville.
The most recent meetings between the two schools came in 2015 with all four games occurring in Hoover - three as part of a series from May 14-16 to close out the regular season and one in the 2015 SEC Tournament. Vanderbilt took the first two games of the series before the Tide claimed a victory on the final day of the regular season. The Commodores then eliminated the Crimson Tide from the conference's postseason tournament in the quarterfinal round of the week-long tourney.
Taylor Guilbeau battled it out with eventual first-round pick Carson Fulmer in Thursday's series opener against Vandy. Guilbeau was rolling until two walks and a double in the sixth gave the Commodores the 2-1 lead. Alabama was unable to rally back against Fulmer as Vanderbilt came away with the win in game one by that same score.
The Crimson Tide fell behind, 6-1, after two full innings of play and then would spend the rest of the evening battling back. Alabama narrowed the gap to 6-5, but a solo home run by the 'Dores in the eighth sealed the 7-5, series-clinching victory in game two of the three-game set.
In the series finale, Alabama used a pack of four arms to hand Vanderbilt its first shutout loss of the season, 1-0. The Tide got a double from Cody Henry in the sixth to break the 0-0 tie, and then Thomas Burrows closed it out for UA with 1.2 scoreless innings of work to earn his sixth save of the regular season.
Alabama's run ended in the tournament, as Vanderbilt put together an eight-run fourth inning to help secure the 16-1 victory in seven innings in the quarterfinals of the 2015 SEC Tournament. The Commodores tied an SEC Tournament record by recording eight doubles and posting 19 hits for 16 total runs in the seven-inning victory. Vandy scored 14 of its 16 runs with an eight-spot in the fourth and three runs apiece in the fifth and sixth innings en route to advancing to the SEC semifinals.
Alabama head coach Greg Goff has never faced Vanderbilt during his head coaching career.

On Deck

Alabama will enter the offseason following the series in Nashville.

University of Alabama Athletics