Alabama Baseball Suffers 5-2 Loss to Oral Roberts on Sunday
Alabama baseball fell in the series finale with Oral Roberts, 5-2, on Sunday afternoon at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. With the loss, the Crimson Tide moves to 3-4 on the young campaign.
“We can’t let this weekend define our season,” said Alabama head coach Greg Goff. “We got outplayed from a pitching, defensive, and timely hitting standpoint. Hopefully this motivates our guys and helps them understand that getting swept is not acceptable. We’ve got to come out tomorrow at practice and get better.”
Facing a 5-1 deficit entering the ninth, Alabama used an ORU fielding and throwing error to put a runner in scoring position to start the frame. In a pinch-hit role, Keith Holcombe sent a sharp grounder to second that the fielder bobbled before throwing the ball into the visiting dugout, sending Holcombe to second. In the next at-bat, a single to left by Gene Wood placed runners on the corners for Chandler Avant, who sent a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Holcombe and making a 5-2 game. Cobie Vance extended the Alabama ninth with a one-out single to put runners at first and second, but Cody Henry’s fly ball came just short of a game-tying home run for the contest’s final out.
Vance led the Crimson Tide in hitting, finishing 3-for-4 with one walk, and extended his hitting streak to seven games. With the effort, Vance has now collected a hit in every game of the season for the Tide and leads Alabama with 15 hits. Chandler Taylor contributed a 1-for-3 effort with one RBI, a walk and a run scored, while also collecting his team-leading fourth home run of the season.
Alabama kicked off the day’s scoring in the bottom of the fourth using a solo shot from Taylor to take a 1-0 lead. Oral Roberts answered back an inning later, plating one to even the score. A single led off the stanza before a sacrifice bunt placed a runner in scoring position. One batter later, an ORU single crossed the Golden Eagles’ first run of the day and tied the score at 1-1 after five full.
Oral Roberts took the lead with a three-run sixth inning. A leadoff walk followed by a sacrifice bunt put a runner in scoring position, before a single crossed one to give the Golden Eagles a 2-1 lead. A double in the next at-bat plated another run, and a throwing error on the play allowed the batter to advance to third. A sacrifice fly eventually crossed the man from third and moved ORU’s advantage to 4-1.
The scoring continued for Oral Roberts in the ninth, as the Golden Eagles added one more to extend the lead to 5-1. A pair of hit-by-pitches put two runners on and forced an Alabama pitching change. A single off the new Tide arm allowed a run to cross and set the score at 5-1.
The Tide added one in the ninth to make it a 5-2 game, but would come no closer, as Henry’s final swing came just short of clearing the wall to even things up.
Next up for Alabama is a midweek matchup on Tuesday evening against in-state foe Jacksonville State. The two teams are set for a 6 p.m. CT start at Sewell-Thomas Stadium with the game airing on SEC Network+.