The Alabama Crimson Tide started strong in the opening game of the SEC Tournament in Hoover and kept their composure through a lengthy rain delay to grab the opening round win and move on to the double-elimination portion of the bracket.
Alabama jumped out to a large lead over the first two innings and held off a tough Georgia comeback to defeat the Bulldogs, 5-3 in round one of the SEC Tournament at the Hoover Met on Tuesday.
The Crimson Tide grabbed an early 5-0 lead over Georgia heading into the bottom of the 2nd inning. Alabama plated three runs in the 1st inning on RBI singles by [autotag]Andrew Pinckney[/autotag] and [autotag]Zane Denton[/autotag]. The third run came on a flyout by [autotag]William Hamiter[/autotag] that was deep enough to score Pinckney from third base.
Alabama got off to a great start in the 2nd inning, by loading the bases with one out to bring Drew Williamson to the plate. During the at-bat, a wild pitch got away Georgia’s Fernando Gonzalez behind the dish to score Tommy Siedl, extending the lead to 4-0.
Williamson still made the most of his at-bat, as he would fly out to center field to score Caden Rose from 3rd to score what would be Alabama’s final run of the game.
Georgia used one of their power bats to cut into Alabama’s lead in the bottom half of the inning. Parks Harber, who entered the game tied for the team’s lead in home runs, crushed his 12th home run of the season to right field to trim Alabama’s lead to 5-1.
The game would then pause in the 3rd inning, as the second rain delay of the game took place and would last for nearly two hours. Once the game resumed, the bats would remain relatively quiet until the bottom of the 8th inning.
In an effort to come back in the game, Georgia’s Connor Tate hit a two-run home run to center field to cut Alabama’s lead to 5-3.
Dylan Ray was called upon to close the game for the Tide, and did so by striking out two of three batters that he faced, slamming the door and solidifying the win.
Zane Denton grabbed two hits for Alabama in the win, while Ben Hess was dominant on the mound in a relief effort. In 4.1 innings out of the bullpen following the rain delay, Hess struck out ten batters while allowing just one walk and one hit.
Next up for Alabama is a rematch with the no. 3 Arkansas Razorbacks tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. CDT. Alabama recently took two of three games from Arkansas last weekend at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
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