Final Midweek Pairing Sends Baseball to Jacksonville State on Tuesday

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama baseball begins a four-game road stint with a Tuesday matchup at Jacksonville State. First pitch at Rudy Abbott Field is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT with the game airing on ESPN+.

Follow the Tide

Fans can follow the midweek game via the below outlets:
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: 100.9 FM / CTSN / The Varsity App
Twitter: @AlabamaBSB
Live Stats: JSUGamecockSports.com

Probable Starting Pitching Matchup

TUESDAY: UA – Antoine Jean (Jr., LHP) vs. JSU – Trey Fortner (R-Jr., RHP)

Leading Off

Alabama and Jacksonville State will square off for the 45th time in series history and the second time this season when the two teams meet at Rudy Abbott Field on Tuesday evening. The Crimson Tide holds the all-time series advantage, 34-10, including a 6-3 mark in Jacksonville.
The two teams met earlier this season on Tuesday, Feb. 22, with Alabama claiming a 6-3 win in the midweek. The Tide scored in each of the first four innings to put the game out of reach early.
The last pairing in Jacksonville between the two in-state foes came on Feb. 23 of last season with UA earning a 5-2 win. The victory extended the Tide's winning streak at JSU to five games.
Antoine Jean returns to the mound to make the Tuesday start for Alabama. The outing will be Jean's first since April 2 against Texas A&M.
Jacksonville State will send right-hander Trey Fortner to the mound on Tuesday. Fortner will be making his fourth start of the season and 19^th appearance overall.

About Alabama

Alabama wrapped up exam week with a three-game set at home against 19th-ranked LSU. The Crimson Tide fell in game one before bouncing back to even things at one game apiece with a win on Saturday. The Tigers took the rubber match on Sunday to clinch the series win.
The Tide came up short, 6-5, against LSU in Friday's matchup.
Alabama posted single tallies in the first and third frames for the early 2-0 lead, keeping LSU off the board until the fifth. That fifth saw the Tigers score five runs – only one earned – to gain a 5-2 advantage. The Tide countered in the home half of the fifth with a three-spot to knot things up at five apiece, before LSU crossed one run in the top of the sixth to retake the lead. That one run would prove the difference as both teams were held scoreless the rest of the way for the 6-5 final in favor of the Tigers.
The Crimson Tide offense totaled 11 hits on the night, highlighted by a three-hit effort from Jim Jarvis. Jarvis finished 3-for-5 with a stolen base and a team-high tying two runs. Also posting two runs was Caden Rose, with the sophomore going 2-for-4 with a double. Andrew Pinckney led UA in RBI with two as part of a 2-for-4 showing that included a double, a walk and one run.
Garrett McMillan was solid once again, allowing five runs (one earned) on eight hits and a walk with six strikeouts in his 5.0 innings of work.
UA used early offense paired with a strong start from Jacob McNairy to get the 8-3 win over the Tigers on Saturday.
LSU got ahead early with a solo home run in the first but was held off the board until the seventh. Alabama used that time to score a pair in the home half of the first before adding three in the second and two in the fourth for the 7-1 advantage. The Tigers posted two in the seventh on another homer but an insurance run in the eighth for UA ensured the 8-3 win in game two.
McNairy picked up his team-high fifth win of the season on graduation day. The senior was impressive against the high-powered Tiger offense, allowing just one run on four hits and three walks with a career-high tying seven strikeouts in his 5.2 innings of work.
He handed the ball over to the duo of Jake Leger and Dylan Ray with the pair limiting LSU to two hits and two runs while combining for five strikeouts.
The Tide suffered a 12-3 loss on Sunday afternoon.
LSU gained the early advantage with a three-run first. The Tide countered with one run in the first before both teams went scoreless until the fifth. The Tigers added three in that fifth to go with three apiece in the seventh and eighth to put the game out of reach.
The Crimson Tide plated one in the seventh on a Rose solo home run and added one more in the ninth on a pinch-hit homer from Eric Foggo for the 12-3 final.
Alabama's arms struck out 15 in Sunday's matchup with the Tigers. The 15 punchouts tied UA's season-high total for Ks, matching the 15 against Binghamton on March 13.
UA's 15 strikeouts were the most by the Tide in a nine-inning conference matchup since April 4, 2009, when Alabama's arms combined for 15 strikeouts against Tennessee.
The Tide's 15 strikeouts on Sunday were also the most in an SEC contest since March 31, 2016, at Georgia when the Tide punched out 19 in a 13-inning affair.

About Jacksonville State

Jim Case is in his 21st year at the helm of the Jacksonville State program and entered the new season with a 619-501 career record - all at JSU. A 1983 graduate of Louisiana Tech, Case is assisted by Mike Murphree and Evan Bush along with volunteer assistant and former Alabama player/student coach Kyle Cameron.
Jacksonville State finished the 2021 season at 26-27 overall and 16-14 in Ohio Valley Conference play.
The Gamecocks were selected to finish fourth in the ASUN Conference in the league's preseason poll, as voted on by the conference's head coaches.

On Deck

Alabama heads to the Plains to take on Auburn this weekend for a three-game set. The series opens on Friday with a 7:30 p.m. first pitch at Plainsman Park followed by a 2 p.m. start on Saturday. Things wrap up on Sunday at 3 p.m. The first and third games of the series will be broadcast nationally on SEC Network with game two airing on SEC Network+.

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