Auburn Annihilates Alabama Baseball in Game One

Don't let the 8-4 final score fool you, game one of the Iron Bowl of Baseball was embarrassing for the Crimson Tide. If the ship doesn't get righted on Friday, the results of this game combined with today's news of a pending lawsuit by a former player against head coach Brad Bohannon could see this weekend go down as one of the biggest eye-sores in Alabama baseball history.

The evening started as a pitchers' duel that Luke Holman ended up on the unlucky end of with a two-run Auburn home run in the second inning. Auburn left-handed graduate Tommy Vail will likely remember Friday night as one of the best pitching performances he ever put on in his career, giving up no runs and just two hits while retiring 24 batters with four strikeouts in less than 100 pitches.

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Holman made it all the way to the seventh inning before surrendering two more runs. They came in a tight spot he had pitched himself in to as he was plainly showing signs of fatigue. Bohannon elected to leave him in the game after a conference at the mound with one on and one out.

The series of events following that conference saw the bases get loaded up with one out. Holman then retired Nate LaRue, the catcher with a .130 batting average, and got Caden Green down to his last strike before surrendering a two-RBI single up the middle.

The 4-0 ball game only got more out-of-hand from there. Holman got the relief he so desperately needed in the form of fellow sophomore righty Hagan Banks. Banks finished his night having given up four more runs on just two hits, a walk, and a hit batter. During his time on the mound, three errors also occurred.

By the time the Tide stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, it was in an 8-1 hole. The loss was already embarrassing at that point, and most everyone on the field looked to be in the mindset of just wrapping this up and getting it over with.

Junior Tanner Bauman struck out William Hamiter to get things started for the Tiger victory lap. However, the wheels came off the wagon for the folks from Lee County soon after that.

First, freshman sensation Colby Shelton was struck by a pitch and took his base. Then, Dominic Tamez singled. Andrew Pinckney walked on the ensuing at bat and suddenly, the bases were loaded with one out.

Next, Will Hodo was hit by a pitch, scoring Tamez to make it 8-2. At this point, Bauman was relieved of his duties in favor of Will Cannon. The pitching got no better.

Jarvis singled to left field, scoring Shelton. Drew Williamson was walked, scoring Pinckney, and then Ed Johnson was struck by a pitch, scoring Hodo. All of this brought Hamiter back to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs and an 8-4 score. A grand slam would have tied the game, but Hamiter's pop-fly fell lifelessly into the glove of an Auburn fielder to end the brutal affair at 8-4.

Alabama falls to 24-11 (4-9) on the season while the Barn improves to 20-13 (5-8). The Iron Bowl series continues Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Joe. Unfortunately for Alabama, its second-best pitcher, Grayson Hitt, will be unavailable for his scheduled start on the mound tomorrow due to injury. Garrett McMillan will take his place. While McMillan is cleared from injury himself, he is far from 100%.

Things have looked better for this program.