Late Relievers Help Baseball Outlast Belmont, 6-3, on Tuesday

Tuesday, March 26

Huntsville, Ala.

6 p.m.

Alabama

19-6

Belmont

12-13

Belmont

Alabama

Late Relievers Help Baseball Outlast Belmont, 6-3, on Tuesday

3/26/2024 10:12:00 PM | Baseball

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The trio of Buchanan, Moza and Davis II kept the Bruins scoreless over the final 2.2 frames

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Alabama baseball claimed a 6-3 win over Belmont on Tuesday evening at Toyota Field. With the victory, the 15^th-ranked Crimson Tide is now 19-6 on the year.

The midweek pairing remained scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when Alabama struck for one. The Tide then added two runs apiece in the fifth and sixth to jump out to a 5-0 lead. Belmont answered by scoring three in the seventh and threatening for more before the back end of the Tide bullpen took over. The trio of Coulson Buchanan, Aidan Moza and Alton Davis II combined to hold the Bruins scoreless over the final 2.2 frames while Alabama added one more tally in the seventh for the 6-3 final.

Davis II nailed down his fourth save of the season with a scoreless ninth that included two strikeouts. The win went to Sam Mitchell (1-0), who contributed 2.0 scoreless relief frames with a hit and one strikeout.

Kade Snell got the start on the mound while also serving as the Tide's designated hitter, finishing with a team-high two RBI as part of his 1-for-3 effort at the plate. Evan Sleight and Will Hodo each tied for the team lead in hits with two apiece, as Sleight went 2-for-3 with a triple, one walk and two runs scored while Hodo posted a 2-for-4 night with one RBI.

From Head Coach Rob Vaughn

"We had an awesome crowd tonight. This is a beautiful stadium and what a great town. The hospitality we were shown was awesome and the crowd was great. We didn't do a great job of giving them much to cheer about in the beginning, but once we gave them an inch, they really got behind us. It's a heck of a lot of fun to play in front of that and it was huge for us to get the support from the fans of north Alabama."

How It Happened

B4 | Evan Sleight led things off with a triple and came home on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Mason Swinney. (1-0, Alabama)
B5 | Will Portera drew a leadoff walk, and after a wild pitch and a sacrifice bunt advanced him to third, a Justin Lebron sac fly scored the third baseman. In the very next at-bat, TJ McCants blasted a 2-0 pitch over the wall in right for a solo homer. (3-0, Alabama)
B6 | Sleight got the rally started with a single to center before a double from Swinney put both runners in scoring position. Kade Snell followed with an RBI-single to right before a Will Hodo RBI-single added one more to widen the gap. (5-0, Alabama)
T7 | A two-run homer from Sam Slaughter mixed in with a pair UA errors got Belmont on the board. (5-3, Alabama)
B7 | Ian Petrutz led off the inning with a single and moved to third later in the frame. He then came home on a sac fly from Snell. (6-3, Alabama)

Postgame Notes

The Crimson Tide has homered in 19 games so far this season.
Ian Petrutz has reached base in 13 consecutive games.
Luke Vaughn made his first career start on Tuesday against the Bruins.
Justin Lebron's hitting streak came to an end at six games. Over that stretch, the freshman batted .409 (9-22) with a double, one home run, four RBI, five runs scored, two walks and a hit-by-pitch.

Alabama will break on Wednesday before hosting 10^th-ranked South Carolina at The Joe from Thursday through Saturday. The Crimson Tide and the Gamecocks are slated for a 7 p.m. CT start in game one followed by a 6 p.m. first pitch on Friday night. The two squads will then wrap up the weekend with a 1 p.m. game on getaway day. Thursday's contest will air on SEC Network with games two and three of the series being broadcast on SEC Network+.

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