In-State Showdown Sends Baseball to Samford on Tuesday

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama baseball will head up the road to Birmingham on Tuesday evening for a midweek matchup with Samford. The 11^th-ranked Crimson Tide and Bulldogs are scheduled for a 4 p.m. CT matchup at Joe Lee Griffin Field with the game airing on ESPN+. The contest was originally scheduled for a 6 p.m. start but was moved up due to the threat of rain later in the evening.

Follow the Tide

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

Probable Starting Pitching Matchup

TUESDAY: UA – Kade Snell (R-Jr., LHP) vs. SAM – Jacob Newman (Jr., RHP)

Leading Off

• Alabama and Samford will meet for the 114th time in series history when the two in-state programs square off on Tuesday evening at Joe Lee Griffin Field. The Crimson Tide owns a 98-15 overall record against the Bulldogs, including a 21-6 mark in Birmingham. The Tide enters Tuesday night riding a seven-game winning streak in the series dating back to the 2019 season.
• The two teams met twice in 2023 as part of a home-and-home series, with the Tide claiming wins in both contests. Alabama first won in Birmingham on March 7 by a score of 11-6. Alabama then earned a 13-6 win over Samford on April 25 when the two in-state foes met in Tuscaloosa.

About Alabama

• Alabama finished last week with a 3-1 record overall. The Crimson Tide first downed Belmont on Tuesday in Huntsville before earning a 2-1 series win over 10th-ranked South Carolina from Thursday through Saturday.
• The Crimson Tide claimed a 6-3 victory over Belmont on Tuesday at Toyota Field in Huntsville.
• 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, 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 against Belmont, 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.
• Alabama rallied from an early deficit for a 4-3 win over South Carolina Thursday evening at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
• The Gamecocks rallied for a two-run first, but the Tide was able to cut the lead in half with a single tally in the fifth. SC then answered with one run in the top of the seventh to move the lead back to two.
• Following the stretch, Alabama evened things up with a two-run seventh, highlighted by a game-tying RBI-double from TJ McCants. The Crimson Tide then took the lead for good in the eighth, when a two-out wild pitch with runners on the corners brought Sleight across for the go-ahead and eventual game-winning run.
• Davis II got the win on Thursday, entering in the eighth and getting out of a bases-loaded jam before recording the final three outs in the ninth.
• A seven-run eighth inning propelled Alabama to a 13-6 win over the Gamecocks on Friday.
• The Tide got the scoring going thanks to a five-run third with the Gamecocks cutting into the lead in the fifth by posting a four-spot. UA answered with one in the home half of the fifth, but the two-run advantage was not safe as South Carolina evened things up with a pair of runs in the sixth.
• Both teams were then held scoreless until the eighth when five hits and two free passes led to seven runs for UA.
• The Crimson Tide offense racked up 13 hits to go with three walks and two hit-by-pitch for 13 runs on Thursday evening. Eight of the nine starters reached base safely and contributed one run or better in the game while seven of the starters tallied at least one hit.
• Contributing multi-hit efforts on Thursday was UA's 3-through-6 hitters in Ian Petrutz, Sleight, Justin Lebron and Snell, who all tallied two knocks apiece. Petrutz and Sleight each homered while Petrutz led the Tide in RBI with five.
• Ben Hess was solid in his start, maintaining a no-hitter through 4.0-plus innings. He allowed four runs on three hits and four walks with eight strikeouts in 4.1 innings of work before the Tide bullpen took over. The relief effort featured a combination of four arms with Pierce George getting the win thanks to a scoreless eighth inning.
• Alabama's ninth-inning comeback fell just short in a 9-8 loss on Saturday afternoon.
• The Tide built a four-run advantage to start the day, plating one apiece in the second and fourth with a two-run third in between. South Carolina was able to answer, chipping away with a two-run fifth and one in the sixth to make it a one-run ballgame headed to the seventh.
• In that seventh, the Gamecocks plated five to take the lead before adding an insurance run in the top of the eighth. That extra run would prove crucial, as the Tide rallied for four in the ninth.
• The Tide opened the frame with three straight singles before a groundout to first scored one. The Gamecocks then recorded the inning's second out to bring Gage Miller to the plate, who proceeded to score a pair with a triple to right. He came home in the next at-bat on a single from McCants, which forced an SC pitching change.
• The new arm issued a walk to put two on before a single from Sleight moved everyone up 90 feet. On that single a throw behind the runner at third got the final out to help South Carolina salvage the series with a 9-8 victory.

About Samford

• A long-time assistant at Samford, Tony David began his third season as head coach of the Bulldogs in 2024. He opened the new season with a record of 65-54 across his two years leading SU. A 1995 graduate of South Alabama, David's staff includes associate head coach Tyler Shrout along with assistants Cam Shepherd and Gil Walker.
• Samford finished the 2023 campaign at 37-25, including a 15-6 conference record. The Bulldogs won the Southern Conference Tournament and earned a spot in the NCAA Auburn Regional. The Bulldogs season came to a close after losses to Penn and Southern Miss down on the Plains.
• The Bulldogs were selected to win the SoCON in the league's preseason poll, as voted on by the conference's head coaches. Samford collected 49 points overall and received all seven available first-place votes.

On Deck

Alabama will travel to Lexington to take on 16^th-ranked Kentucky for a three-game series from April 5-7 at Kentucky Proud Park. The Crimson Tide and Wildcats are scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. CT start in the opener followed by a 1 p.m. first pitch on Saturday and an 11 a.m. finale on Sunday. The first two games of the weekend will air on SEC Network+ with the finale receiving a national audience on SEC Network.

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