Alabama Baseball Avoids the Series Sweep Against Georgia
A strong performance from the Alabama pitching staff and good at-bats led the Tide to victory Sunday afternoon against the Georgia Bulldogs.
Grayson Hitt started the afternoon and struck out seven batters in six innings with no runs allowed. He threw strikes and relied on his team to come up with plays.
After an offensive slump for the majority of the weekend, the Crimson Tide got their bats moving early.
Andrew Pinckney singled up the middle with one out in the first inning. Zane Denton also hit a single of his own to get two runners on with one out. Alabama couldn't capitalize on the two hits though, but seeing some offense early was a good sign for the Tide.
The bats stayed hot for the Tide as they had at least one player reach base in the first three innings before Drew Williamson hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The run marked the first lead of the series for Bama.
In the bottom of the fifth inning with two outs, Pinckney hit a two-run homer over the left field fence to give Alabama a 3-0 lead over the Bulldogs. Pinckney went 3-4 with two RBIs and two singles on the afternoon.
"It was inside, and I just tried to get my hands to it," Pinckney said. "I just didn't want to be late on it, and I hit it, looked up, and it was a home run. I was pretty happy."
Brock Guffey retired the first three batters he saw in the top of the seventh inning with his defense forcing two ground outs and a pop fly.
Dylan Ray came in to close the game at the top of the seventh inning. He recorded two strikeouts and earned the save for the Tide.
Caden Rose came up with the game winning catch. A deep fly ball hit to center field looked like it might go out of the ballpark, but Rose jumped up at the last minute to grab the ball against the the Georgia bullpen's fence.
Alabama travels to Birmingham Tuesday to play Samford before heading to Columbia, SC to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks in the weekend series. Alabama improved to 24-17 overall and 9-9 in SEC play.