Late Rally Not Enough for Alabama Baseball in 8-4 Loss to Troy

Alabama baseball’s late rally came up short in the Tide’s 8-4 loss to Troy on Tuesday evening at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. Following the midweek pairing, UA is 20-10 overall on the season.

Alabama trailed 8-2 entering the bottom of the ninth. Redshirt junior Gene Wood was hit by a pitch with one down to bring John Trousdale to the plate. The junior sent a 3-2 pitch deep to right-center to make it an 8-4 contest and force a Troy pitching change. Alabama reached one against the new pitcher, but a pair of back-to-back groundouts followed, ending things in favor of the Trojans.

Sadler Goodwin (2-3) earned the win thanks to 6.1 innings of relief work for Troy. The right-hander allowed three runs on four hits and three walks with three strikeouts in the middle part of the game after an early exit by the Trojans’ starter. Freshman Connor Shamblin (2-1) suffered the loss for Alabama.

Troy jumped out to a four-run lead in the second, using three walks to load the bases and set up a grand slam in the next at-bat. Alabama answered, plating one in the home half of the inning to make it a 4-1 contest after two full. Junior Brett Auerbach walked to lead off the frame before advancing to third on a failed pickoff attempt. One out later, freshman Daniel Carinci flied out deep to center to bring in the Tide’s first run of the night.

The Trojans extended their lead to six with a three-spot in the third, setting things at 7-1. Alabama chipped away at the lead an inning later with a single tally in the fourth. Junior Justin King sent an 0-1 pitch the opposite way for his second home run of the season, making it a 7-2 affair after four. The two teams then went scoreless until the ninth.

That final frame saw Troy put up one to widen the gap before the Tide’s final time to bat. Alabama fought for two in the ninth but was unable to complete the comeback with the game finishing at 8-4 in favor of the Trojans.

Alabama remains at home for a three-game series against South Carolina starting on Thursday. The first two matchups between the Crimson Tide and Gamecocks are set for a 6 p.m. CT first pitch with game three scheduled to start at 1 p.m. on Saturday. SEC Network will televise the first two games with the series finale showing on SEC Network+.

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