Brady Neal Leads the Way to Series Win over Florida

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — If you asked an Alabama fan in January who the Crimson Tide's best hitter through mid-March would be, the answer likely wasn't Brady Neal.

"He's probably been our most consistent hitter all year," said Alabama head coach Rob Vaughn of the senior, "There's no secret, I've praised him [Brady Neal] a lot this season so far, take away the performance, but for the way he's playing. It's like he's playing wiffleball. [...] he's having fun playing baseball, he's playing free. That's really hard to do in this league. [...] it's kind of filtered through our team a little bit."

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Neal, playing right field in place of his typical position behind the dish or as the designated hitter, has been on a tear against No. 18 Florida.

Neal's offensive explosion comes at a much-needed time for the Alabama lineup, as the Crimson Tide struggled to provide steady run support during its four-game skid.

Over the pair of wins, Neal is hitting .625 with four RBIs and a pair of walks to help lead the Crimson Tide to its first series win over Florida since 2008.

Overall, for the year, the Floridian is batting a team-high .373 with a 1.080 OPS to go along with nine extra base hits, 24 RBIs, and 15 walks. Much improved from his .219 average a year ago.

But the Crimson Tide isn't done yet, with a chance to sweep No. 18 Florida, Rob Vaughn has all eyes on Sunday:

"Sundays are huge in this league, [...] us showing up with energy, with focus, with intensity tomorrow is going to be huge."

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.