Tide Sweep Vanderbilt for First Time Since 2009 in Saturday Finale

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The No. 24 Alabama Crimson Tide entered the weekend looking to get back to form after dropping three straight SEC series. Rob Vaughn's squad did just that, sweeping the Vanderbilt Commodores for the first time since 2009, winning the finale 8-5.

Alabama starter Myles Upchurch was tagged with the win, his sixth of the year.

Despite being bounced around early, the freshman from Maryland battled through 5.1 innings to hold the Vanderbilt lineup to four runs while providing length to hand the ball over to relievers Matthew Heiberger and Hagan Banks to close out the series.

Vanderbilt starter Wyatt Nadeau got tabbed with the loss, tossing 3 innings of five hits, seven earned runs of baseball.

The Crimson Tide offense jumped on the Commodores fast once again. A pair of one-out singles courtesy of Justin Lebron and Brady Neal put two runners on for Bryce Fowler, who laced a double to left-center to score Lebron and advance Neal to third.

Eric Hines then bounced an RBI fielder's choice to give Alabama a 2-0 advantage.

The Crimson Tide continued to threaten as John Lemm drew a walk to put two runners on base for Jason Torres.

Torres took advantage of the free pass, belting a three-run blast to left-center to push the Crimson Tide out to a 5-0 advantage.

Vanderbilt threw a punch back at the top of the second, hopping on the scoreboard thanks to a Collin Barczi three-run jack.

The Crimson Tide couldn't respond in the bottom half of the frame, as Vanderbilt continued to claw back in the top of the third, cutting the Alabama lead to a lone run thanks to a Braden Holcomb RBI-single through the middle.

Alabama finally threw a jab back at the Commodores, plating a pair in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a Brennan Holt RBI-double and Justin Lebron RBI-groundout, jumping out to a 7-4 lead.

Pitching took over the next two frames, with Alabama facing six batters and Vanderbilt seven.

Vanderbilt continued to hang around, pulling one more run back in the seventh thanks to a sac fly, making it a 7-5 ballgame.

An inning later, looking to add some insurance ahead of the top of the ninth, Brennan Holt belted an 0-1 fastball 342 feet into the right field terrace to give Alabama an 8-5 lead.

Alabama handed the ball to closer Hagan Banks at the top of the ninth, who allowed a lone hit on a two-out single, to close out the series.

Alabama returns to action Tuesday to travel to take on in-state foe Troy.