Baseball Season Comes to an End in With 9-8 Loss To Troy in NCAA Regional
TALLAHASSEE,
Fla. - The 2013 Alabama baseball season came to an end on Sunday
afternoon with a heartbreaking 9-8 loss to the 26th-ranked and third
seeded Troy Trojans in an elimination game of the Tallahassee Regional
from Mike Martin Field. Despite outhitting Troy 15-8 on the day, the
Tide was unable to close out the game as the Trojans scored four runs
in the bottom of the ninth to walk off with the win.
"It was a
tough one and a tough way to lose. I thought our guys competed really
hard," head coach Mitch Gaspard said. "This has been a season that
we've been on the edge like that late in games, but we've been able to
finish most of them off and today we weren't. We allowed Troy too many
opportunities and they did a good job to get some big hits there in the
ninth inning. It doesn't take away that our guys competed extremely
hard and I think our young guys learned a lot from the tournament.
We've just got to regroup and get better for next year."
With
the Tide leading 8-5 heading into the bottom of the ninth, Alabama
(35-28) turned the ball over to closer Ray Castillo. Castillo (2-3)
blew his third save of the season, allowing four runs on three walks,
two hit batters and two hits in a third of an inning. The game-winning
run came when Castillo walked Brandon Brown with bases loaded to push
across Josh McDorman to end the game.
With the win, Troy will
take on Florida State tonight at 5 p.m. ET. Jeremy McGowan threw the
final 1.1 innings for the Trojans (42-19) to improve to 2-0 on the
season.
Alabama collected 15 hits as eight of the nine starters
had at least one hit in the game. Chance Vincent had a career-high
three hits, going 3-for-4 with a run scored. Hitting leadoff for the
first time in his career, Mikey White was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run
scored.
Seven seniors played their final games for the Tide, as
Brett Booth and Andrew Miller finished their career with two hits in
the game. Booth was 2-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored and Miller
was 2-for-4 and scored twice. Kyle Overstreet was 2-for-5 and Austen
Smith was 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.
Although
the Trojans had eight hits in the game, they had 12 more base runners
thanks to eight walks, three hits batters and an error by the Tide.
McDorman was 2-for-3 with a double and three RBI and Logan Pierce was
2-for4 with two runs scored for Troy. Kyle Brown doubled in his only
at-bat, as he drove in two in the four-run ninth inning. Matthew Howard
and Brandon Brown also had two RBI in the game.
Alabama got on
the scoreboard in the third inning when Georgie Salem's sacrifice fly
allowed Vincent to score. Vincent and White singled with one out to put
runners on second and third for Salem.
The Trojans answered in
the fourth inning, when a McDorman two-out single up the middle allowed
Pierce to score from second. Pierce singled to open the inning and
moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Danny Collins.
The Tide
answered in the next half inning when Miller scored on a groundout by
White. White hit a two hopper to first, and after Trae Santos stepped
on the bag, Miller beat the throw home to give the Tide a 2-1 lead.
Miller singled with one out in the inning and moved up the third when
Vincent singled for the second time in the game.
Bama extended
its lead to 4-1 in the sixth, getting a pair of RBI singles by
Overstreet and Ben Moore. Troy answered in the bottom of the sixth with
three runs to tie the game at 4-4.Taylor Vaughn reached on an error and
Pierce singled to start the inning. After Collins struck out, Santos
walked to load the bases for McDorman, who doubled to deep center field
to drive in two. Santos scored on a sacrifice fly to center field by
Howard to tie the game at four.
UA answered in the top of the
seventh with three runs, getting two on a double by Booth and another
on a double by Smith. White started the inning with a single and moved
to second on a sac bunt by Salem. After Kenny Roberts was intentionally
walked, Booth ripped a double to the left field corner. Smith then
traded places with Booth when he doubled to the wall in left center,
giving the Tide a 7-4 lead.
After the Smith double, Troy went to
the bullpen again, bringing in Nate Hill to face Overstreet. Overstreet
singled to left field and Smith was cut down at the plate trying to
score from second.
Troy loaded the bases with one out in the
bottom of the eighth. Reliever Jay Shaw struck out Jakob Nixon for the
second out, but Brown singled through the left side to drive in pinch
runner Cass Abercrombie to make the score 8-5. Shaw then struck out
Justin Hancock to end the inning.
Alabama went down in order in
the top of the ninth inning, before the Trojans scored four times in
the ninth inning to end the Bama season.
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