Hess’ Impressive Outing, Bullpen Arms Help Baseball Hold off LSU for 4-3 Win

Sunday, May 12

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

1 p.m. CT

Alabama

32-19, 12-15

LSU

33-20, 10-17

LSU

Alabama

Hess’ Impressive Outing, Bullpen Arms Help Baseball Hold off LSU for 4-3 Win

5/12/2024 5:19:00 PM | Baseball

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The Crimson Tide leaned on its pitching staff after building an early lead

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama baseball relied heavily on its pitching staff on Sunday, holding off LSU for the 4-3 series-clinching win at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. With the victory, the 25^th-ranked Crimson Tide is now 32-19 overall and 12-15 in Southeastern Conference play.

Alabama jumped out to a 4-0 lead after three innings, plating three in the second and one in the third. The Tigers got on the board with a run in the fourth and rallied for two in the eighth but would get no closer for the 4-3 final. The Tigers' late offense was stalled by the relief duo of Tyler Fay and Braylon Myers. The pair combined for the final 2.0 scoreless frames with Myers picking up his third save of the season and second of the week.

Ben Hess (4-4) earned the win thanks to arguably his best start of the season. The junior allowed just one run on only three hits and three walks while striking out a career-high tying 10 across his career-best 6.2 innings of work. The loss went to Samuel Dutton (0-2).

From Head Coach Rob Vaughn

"The story of this game was Heater (Ben Hess). The way that he attacked, how he got deep in the game, and not only was his stuff really good, but he was extremely efficient out there today. He had great velocity, great tempo, threw a ton of strikes and just went out and set the tone for us. This was just a great job by our pitching staff of finding a way to hold a pretty dangerous offense to limited runs, and they gave our offense a chance, even when we weren't at our best."

How It Happened

B2 | The Tide loaded the bases with one down thanks to singles from Kade Snell and Mac Guscette along with a walk for TJ McCants. William Hamiter capitalized on the opportunity, sending a single to center to get one. After a Tiger pitching change, a wild pitch brought across one more before a 4-3 groundout added a third tally. (3-0, Alabama)
B3 | Gage Miller led off with a single and moved to third thanks to an Ian Petrutz walk and a single from Justin Lebron. Miller came home in the next at-bat thanks to a sacrifice fly from Will Hodo. (4-0, Alabama)
T4 | A leadoff double followed by a groundout moved a man to third before a fielder's choice brought across a run for the Tigers. (4-1, Alabama)
T8 | A single and hit-by-pitch put two aboard before a single scored one for LSU. After a pitching change, a wild pitch moved two into scoring position before a 6-3 groundout added another tally. (4-3, Alabama)

Postgame Notes

Ben Hess worked a career-high 6.2 innings in today's start. His previous best was 6.1 frames, which he had thrown on two previous occasions and most recently at Kentucky on March 24, 2023.
Hess struck out a career-high tying 10 batters. Entering today, he had struck out 10 on three previous occasions with the last instance coming against Indiana on March 1 earlier this year.
The 104 pitches by Hess were a season-high and one short of his career-high total of 105.
Kade Snell has now recorded a hit in 13 straight contests. Over the streak, the redshirt junior is batting .375 (21-56) with three doubles, one homer, 11 RBI, 11 runs scored, two walks and a hit-by-pitch.
Snell has also reached base safely in each of his last 17 games.
William Hamiter extended his hitting streak to six games. Over that stretch, the graduate is hitting .478 (11-23) with one double, a triple, two homers, seven RBI, four runs scored and four walks.
Justin Lebron extended his on-base streak to 15 games.
ATTENDANCE: 3,760

Alabama will close out the 2024 regular season at Auburn from May 16-18. The first two matchups at Plainsman Park are set for a 6 p.m. CT start followed by a 5 p.m. first pitch in the regular season finale on Saturday. Games one and two will air on SEC Network+ with game three receiving national attention on SEC Network.

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