Alabama Baseball Wins in Thrilling Fashion

Austen Smith was the ninth inning hero, driving in the final run of a three-run ninth inning as the Alabama Crimson Tide posted a come-from-behind, walk-off, 7-6, Southeastern Conference victory over the Missouri Tigers on Sunday from Sewell-Thomas Stadium. Alabama clinches the series with the win and moves to 31-22 overall and 13-13 in SEC matchups. The loss drops Missouri to 16-29 overall and 8-19 in conference action.

“What a game! At the end of the day, I thought our guys had a great will about them,”Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard said. “We talked about it prior to the game today. This is why you come to Alabama, this is why you play the game –for big games like today. We know our backs were against the wall today and I thought our guys really showed that in the ninth inning. They just continued to give one good at-bat after another to get [Austen] Smith up there to have the game winner. I’m really proud of our team and the way that they responded in the ninth inning.”

Chance Vincent’s first hit of the game proved big, as it ignited a ninth inning rally for the Tide. After Riley Colburn came in to pinch run, Roberts reached first on an error to put two on with no outs. After fouling off two straight bunt attempts,Salemtook a hack at the two-strike delivery and dropped it into the gap in left center to load the bases. Kyle Overstreet came up to the plate and delivered a deep right fly to score Colburn. Then, on an 0-2 count, Ben Moore came up with a game-tying single to left field. From there, Smith hammered the first pitch he saw off Jake Walsh to the wall in left field as Salem scored easily from second base for the game-winning run.

The walk-off RBI-double was the only hit of the day for Smith. Kyle Overstreet accounted for much the Tide’s offense, going 2-for-3 with two singles and three RBI. Ben Moore also had a three-RBI game and finished the day 2-for-5 with the ninth-inning RBI-single and a two-run home run in the fifth.

Andrew Miller pitched in a 3-for-4 effort with a trio of singles, Mikey White posted a 2-for-4 game with a pair of singles, to finish the series with a .636 average (7-for-11), and Kenny Roberts added a single, a walk, a stolen base and three runs scored.

Mitch Greer (2-1) threw the final 2.1 innings for the Tide and earned the first SEC win of his career. The Prattville,Ala., native faced eight batters and used a total of 34 pitches to give his team a chance to win. Walsh (1-1) was charged with the loss for the Tigers after lasting 2.1 innings and allowing the final three runs on six hits with two strikeouts.

Sophomore south paw Justin Kamplain got the call in the final home game of the season for Alabama, hurling a career-high 10 strikeouts in 6.2 innings and allowing three runs on eight hits and a hit by pitch. The crafty left-hander did not walk a batter and tossed a career-high 120 pitches to deal with a career-high tying 29 batters faced.

The Alabama Crimson Tide travels to Nashville to finish out their regular season slate with a series at the second-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. CT on Friday and Saturday, and the season wraps up with a 1:00 p.m. CT start on Sunday. You can catch all of the action on the flagship station for Alabama baseball, 95.3 The Bear, WFFN-FM.