Crimson Tide Makes Positive Strides in Sunday’s Scrimmage against Southern Miss
10/27/2019 8:00:00 PM | Baseball
The Crimson Tide hosted the Golden Eagles for a late-October pairing at The Joe
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama baseball made positive strides in Sunday's scrimmage with Southern Miss at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The Crimson Tide's day was highlighted by strong pitching performances with some big hits in the split with the Golden Eagles.
The Crimson Tide was dominant through the first half of the day with an 8-1 showing against the Golden Eagles. Eight of the nine starters reached base safely with the offensive output punctuated by solo home runs from junior Tyler Gentry and freshman Jim Jarvis. Also helping on offense was T.J. Reeves, with the sophomore contributing a team-high three RBI. The Tide arms combined to strike out six and issued only one walk through seven while limiting the USM offense to just five hits. The latter half of the afternoon favored the Golden Eagles, 5-4.
Alabama will continue its fall schedule with two more weeks of practice following today's scrimmage. The two-week stretch will conclude with the Fall World Series in the days leading up to Alabama football's matchup with the LSU Tigers.
Head Coach Brad Bohannon
Overall thoughts on the day:
"Today was just a really positive day. We played a lot of people so far this fall and in today's scrimmage. The big question mark for this team is the young pitching staff. We just don't have a lot of experience, SEC experience, on our pitching staff. I don't think you could leave the ballpark and not be excited about Connor Prielipp, Antoine Jean, Landon Green, Dylan Smith and Connor Shamblin. Ryan O'Connell is an older kid, but he's new here, too. Those guys all pitched really well 13 out of the 14 innings. That's where it all starts is on the mound, and we threw a bunch of strikes with multiple pitches. It was high-level stuff from our guys, and I am really excited about how we performed today."
Assistant Coach Jason Jackson
Overall thoughts on the pitching:
"As a whole, this was a really positive outing for us. We threw seven guys, five of them new, so it was exciting to see them get out and compete against a different color uniform. I really just wanted to see the guys attack and trust their stuff, which for the most part, I felt like we did. We located the fastball pretty well and flashed some good secondary pitches. Prielipp, Shamblin, Jean and Smith have looked good most of the fall and continue to improve. It's great to have Landon Green back, and he threw some good fastballs today, as well. The biggest bright spot for me may have been Ryan O'Connell. It was really good to see him look sharp at the end of the game. This is a fun group of guys that like to work and want to get better, and they have continued to do that for us this fall."
Assistant Coach Jerry Zulli
Overall thoughts on the hitting:
"Overall, this was a very positive day for us at the plate. Early on, we were able to string together a few quality ABs and take advantage of some of the freebies they gave us. Tyler Gentry, T.J. Reeves and Brett Auerbach showed a lot of maturity through their at-bats. Jim Jarvis set the table the whole game, as well. During the second part of the day, Tyler Ras, Justin King and Peyton Wilson put together some really good at-bats. We showed some good things at times, but there's still a lot we can improve on through these final two weeks of the fall.
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