Preview: Alabama Travels to Mobile to Take on South Alabama
Alabama's (13-9) weekend series did not go as planned, but the Tide did do something no other team has done this season: beat Texas A&M.
The Crimson Tide lost 4-1 in game one after Aggies' starter Grayson Long struck out 14 batters. In game two, Alabama blew a 5-3 lead in the 8th inning and lost by a final of 10-5. Game three proved to be the charm as they handed the Aggies its first loss of the season in a 6-2 win.
Now the Crimson Tide looks to carry the momentum to Mobile on Tuesday night when they take on South Alabama. The Jaguars (15-9) are one of the best teams in the Sun Belt and would love nothing more than to get a big win over an SEC foe in front of a home crowd. They are very much capable of doing so seeing that they defeated Auburn 7-4 earlier in the season.
One thing that South Alabama does exceptionally well is get on base. They currently lead the Sun Belt in on base percentage (.392) and are second in team batting average (.287). Their lineup does lack power, but the Jaguars chip away at their opponents by getting base hits with guys like Bud Collura, who has 32 hits on the year. This should be a concern for Alabama due inconsistency on the mound that has dropped the Crimson Tide back down to 12th in the SEC in team ERA (4.02).
South Alabama's 3.17 team ERA shows that they have not had the same pitching issues as Alabama, but they will face a difficult task on Tuesday. Earlier in the season, Alabama relied heavily on Casey Hughston, Mikey White, and Kyle Overstreet at the plate. Recent games have shown improvement in players like Chance Vincent and Chandler Avant. After each having just 11 hits each in their first 16 games of the year, Avant and Vincent have combined for 19 hits in their last six games. Meanwhile, Hughston and White continue their dominance with batting averages over .400.
Alabama leads the all-time series between the two teams 50-44. Since 2007, the two teams are 5-5 against each other. The scheduled start time is 6:30 pm.