Alabama Baseball Gets a Big Win Against No. 5 Arkansas on Senior Night

Alabama baseball got a much-needed win on Friday night as they took down No. 5 Arkansas 8-6 at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.

The Crimson Tide came into the game having lost three in a row and was looking to turn things around on Senior Night. Alabama starting pitcher, Jacob McNairy, got the start Friday evening but felt the pressure early.

Arkansas held a 2-1 lead heading into the 5^th inning and was able to extend their lead to 4-1, after RBIs by Michael Turner and Chris Lanzilli. The Tide headed into the bottom of the 5^th inning down three and needed to respond.

The second baseman, Cayden Rose led off the inning with a walk and was able to advance to third after William Hamiter followed up with a single. Andrew Pinckney kicked off the scoring with an RBI-single cutting the lead to two. After singles by Tamez and Seidl, the Crimson Tide finally tied the game 4-4.

With the bases loaded still in the 5^th inning, Owen Diodati sent a laser to right center scoring two for the Tide and taking the lead to make it a 6-4 ballgame. However, the Tide didn’t stop there. Speedy shortstop, Jim Jarvis, took the plate next and laid down a perfect sac-bunt scoring Seidl from third to extend Alabama’s lead to 3.

At the start of the 6^th inning, McNairy was relieved of the mound after recording five innings pitched, giving up six hits, and striking out seven Razorbacks. Freshman, Ben Hess would come in to replace McNairy and quickly sat down the Razorbacks in order.

Andrew Pinckney would extend Alabama’s lead in the 6^th when he hit a moonshot over the Sewell-Thomas Stadium scoreboard making it an 8-4 ballgame.

Arkansas would put together a late rally in the 9^th, scoring two to make it an 8-6 ball game. With two out in the ninth, freshman Dylan Ray would take the mound and earn the save after striking out Chris Lanzilli.

With the win, the Tide has improved to 28-25 overall and officially clinched a spot in the SEC Tournament next week in Hoover, AL.

The Crimson Tide will close the regular season tomorrow at Sewell-Thomas Stadium with Game 3 against the Razorbacks at 1 p.m. (SEC Network).