Baseball Falls to Sixth-Ranked Tennessee, 11-3, to Open SEC Play

Friday, March 15

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

7 p.m. CT

Alabama

15-3, 0-1

Tennessee

18-1, 1-0

Tennessee

Alabama

Baseball Falls to Sixth-Ranked Tennessee, 11-3, to Open SEC Play

3/15/2024 10:47:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery Postgame Press Conference

The Crimson Tide suffered its first loss at home this season

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama baseball fell to the sixth-ranked Tennessee Volunteers, 11-3, on Friday night at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The 12^th-ranked Crimson Tide moved to 15-3 overall and 0-1 in Southeastern Conference play.

Tennessee gained an early lead with one in the first, but the Tide answered with two runs in the home half thanks to back-to-back home runs from TJ McCants and Ian Petrutz. The Volunteers took the lead right back with a two-run third to begin a streak of 10 unanswered runs until a Will Hodo homer in the ninth made it an 11-3 final.

AJ Causey (4-0) picked up the win for Tennessee, tossing 6.2 innings and allowing two runs on six hits and a walk with eight strikeouts. Ben Hess (3-1) suffered the loss, his first of the season.

From Head Coach Rob Vaughn

"The story of tonight was AJ Causey, to be honest. We threw a good haymaker in the first inning, took some really good swings on balls overall, but that guy just attacks the strike zone with three different pitches and has a really tough arm slot. We took some really good swings off him in the first four or five innings, but they just made some plays on defense, and we put too many guys on for free tonight."

How It Happened

T1 | A bases-loaded walk got the Vols on the board first. (1-0, Tennessee)
B1 | TJ McCants and Ian Petrutz hit back-to-back solo homers to put the Tide in front. (2-1, Alabama)
T3 | Dylan Dreiling hit a two-run shot to right to help UT retake the lead. (3-2, Tennessee)
T4 | Blake Burke recorded a two-run homer to widen the gap. (5-2, Tennessee)
T5 | With runners on the corners and two down, a single followed by a double crossed three runs for the Volunteers. (8-2, Tennessee)
T6 | A two-run homer off the bat of Kavares Tears added to the advantage. (10-2, Tennessee)
T8 | Back-to-back singles to start the inning put men on the corners before a wild pitch scored the man from third. (11-2, Tennessee)
T9 | Will Hodo hit a solo home run. (11-3, Tennessee)

Postgame Notes

This weekend's series with Tennessee marked the first time the Tide and Vols have squared off to begin SEC play since March 2013.
The Crimson Tide's 19-game winning streak at home came to an end. The 19 straight home wins tied for the third-longest winning streak at The Joe, matching the 1998 team who started the season 19-0 at home from Feb. 13-March 28.
Alabama has homered in 14 contests this season and has tallied two-or-more homers in 10 of those games.
TJ McCants and Ian Petrutz hit back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the first. It marked the first time the Tide hit back-to-back homers since March 9 when Justin Lebron and Will Hodo went back-to-back in game one of the doubleheader against Lipscomb.
McCants extended his hitting streak to 18 games. The senior center fielder is batting .368 (28-76) with eight doubles, one triple, seven homers, 24 RBI, 19 runs scored, 10 walks, three hit-by-pitch and six stolen bases to start the season.
Bryce Eblin moved his hitting streak to 10 games. Over the current stretch, the senior is batting .415 (17-41) with two doubles, three home runs, eight RBI, 11 runs scored, three walks, two hit-by-pitch and a stolen base.
Ian Petrutz finished 2-for-4 to push his hitting streak to six games. Across that stretch, the junior is batting .429 (9-21) with two doubles, a homer, four RBI, eight runs, six walks and three hit-by-pitch.
Gage Miller's hitting streak ended at 16 games. Over the streak, the junior batted .492 (32-65) with five doubles, eight home runs, 24 RBI, 29 runs, five walks and seven hit-by-pitch.
Miller has reached base safely in all 18 games.
Mason Swinney has gotten aboard in 12 straight games dating back to Feb. 17.
Evan Sleight's reached base streak ended at 17 games.
ATTENDANCE: 3,801

Alabama and Tennessee will meet for game two of the series on Saturday evening at The Joe. The Crimson Tide calls on senior left-hander Greg Farone while the Volunteers counter with junior righty Drew Beam. Game two is set for a 7 p.m. CT start with the contest gaining a national audience on SEC Network.

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