Alabama Offense Explodes Late to Comeback and Sweep No. 18 Gators

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It was a series of firsts for the Crimson Tide: on Friday, Tyler Fay tossed the program's first solo nine-inning no-hitter in over 80 years, Saturday, the Crimson Tide clinched its first series win over Florida since 2008, and Sunday, Alabama came roaring back late to sweep the Gators for the first time since 2002.

Alabama (18-7, 3-3) mounted a comeback, sparked by a Justin Lebron two-run jack in the fifth, to overpower Kevin O'Sullivan and the No. 18 Gators (19-6, 3-3) the rest of the way en route to a 14-7 victory.

"Our confidence and our expectation didn't come from the last game, just like our confidence now won't come from today," Alabama head coach Rob Vaughn said postgame, "...the sum is greater than the parts, and I think that's the beauty of this group."

Alabama's Ashton Crowther earned credit for the win Sunday. The southpaw tossed 3.1 innings, only allowing two earned runs while fanning four. Russell Sandefer got tagged with the loss for Florida, allowing three earned runs in 0.1 innings of work.

Despite the late fireworks for the Crimson Tide, it was all Florida early. The Gators' batting order got after Myles Upchurch fast. Command issues for the freshman plagued his sixth start of the season, surrendering four walks and a hit over a third of an inning as Florida plated two against Upchurch to take a quick advantage over the Crimson Tide.

Sam Mitchell entered the game to settle the Tide in, plunking one batter in the first to extend the Florida lead to 3-0, but preventing further damage with a popout and a strikeout.

At the bottom of the inning, it was all Florida starter Cooper Walls. After a leadoff Bryce Fowler single and a one-out Brady Neal walk, Walls struck out the next two batters to silence the Crimson Tide threat.

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Both pitching staffs entered cruise control until the top of the fourth. Luke Smyers, taking over for Mitchell, issued two straight walks to begin the frame. Crowther then entered the game, surrendering an unearned run via sac fly, but picked up two more outs to keep the deficit at 4-0.

The Crimson Tide offense began to flow in the bottom of the frame. Jason Torres got plunked before John Lemm singled to put two on for Will Plattner, who would bounce into a double play. A Justin Osterhouse groundout the following at-bat ended the Crimson Tide threat.

Crowther continued to mow down the Florida batting order, retiring the Gators in 1-2-3 fashion in the fifth.

Then, the spark. With Brennan Holt on first and two outs, Justin Lebron belted a two-run blast off the left-field scoreboard to cut the UF lead to 4-2.

Then, the Alabama offense exploded.

John Lemm singled with one-out to put the tying run at the plate in Plattner. The captain, who struggled to open the season, launched another two-run jack off the scoreboard to make a whole new ballgame, evening the score at four-a-piece.

A Brennan Holt two-out single sandwiched in between walks from Luke Vaughn and Bryce Fowler juiced the bases for Justin Lebron. A wild pitch brought all the runners up 90 feet, thus giving Alabama a 5-4 lead, their first advantage of the afternoon.

Sunday's contest began to get heated as a Florida reliever Joshua Whritenour plunked Lebron, bringing the tension to a boiling point in Sewell-Thomas Stadium.

With the bases juiced once again, and Alabama's hottest hitter in Brady Neal digging in, the tipping point of the ballgame arrived. And boy, did Neal deliver, crushing the first pitch he saw the opposite way to left field to blow the game open, giving Alabama a 9-4 lead two innings after being down 0-4.

Tensions began to flare as Florida third baseman Sam Miller got tossed for chirping at Lebron as he rounded third.

The Gators pulled three runs back in the top of the seventh, in large part to a Blake Cyr two-run home run. Bobby Alcock then entered the game, surrendering an RBI single to Cash Strayer that cut the Alabama lead to 10-7.

Alcock prevented Florida from plating more runs with a strikeout to send it back over to the Alabama lineup.

Alabama got its runs back in the bottom of the seventh, and more. A trio of walks to open the frame loaded the bases for Holt, who worked a walk of his own to push the Tide advantage to 10-7.

Bases still loaded, Bryce Fowler ripped a line drive to the left field wall, missing another grand slam by mere inches. Fowler settled for a long RBI single to increase the Alabama lead to five.

After a first pitch Lebron lineout, Neal continued his hot streak at the plate, knocked a 3-1 pitch all the way to the right field wall for a bases-clearing double, pushing Alabama's lead out to 14-7.

The Crimson Tide's de facto closer Hagan Banks entered the game in the eighth in a non-save situation, only facing seven batters to cruise to the finish line and give the Crimson Tide its first series sweep over Florida since 2002.

Despite the fun weekend, the Crimson Tide still have work to do this season, as they travel up to Huntsville to take on Austin Peay before welcoming Auburn to Sewell-Thomas Stadium.

For more Alabama Baseball, Basketball, and Football content from Simon Besnoy, follow him on Twitter at @SimonBesnoy and stay tuned to Tide1009.com for daily news.