By outreach@cw.ua.edu (Elliott Propes)
Alabama baseball looked to even the series against No. 8 Ole
Miss Saturday afternoon in front a sellout crowd. Again Alabama had an
excellent performance from its starter, as Jake Walters pitched seven
innings of shutout ball to help secure a 2-0 victory over Ole Miss.
“Runs have been tough to come by on both sides. There’s been
tremendous starting pitching on both sides,” coach Mitch Gaspard said. “A game
like that is really big. It can be a confidence builder going into tomorrow,
and even though we weren’t great offensively we found a way.”
Walters only allowed four hits, all singles during his seven
innings. Only one runner advanced to second while he was on the mound. He also
faced the minimum of three batters in five of the seven innings he pitched.
“The cutter was missing a lot of barrels, and I felt like
fastball had good action on it when I needed it, and my defense played real
well behind me,” Walters said.
Walters relinquished the ball to Thomas Burrows after he
gave up a leadoff walk in the eight. Burrows finished the game for a two-inning
save for his ninth save of the year. Burrows has yet to give up a run
this season.
“Thomas kind of did what he does. He comes in and pounds the
strike zone,” Gaspard said. “I think
everybody feels like we are going to win that game when we put it in his
hands.”
The first run came in the fifth inning. A lineup change by
Gaspard had Cobie Vance leading off for the first time this season. The change
put Vance in a RBI situation with runners on first and second with two outs.
Vance delivered with a single to left field to score Georgie Salem. Alabama
then took advantage of the Ole Miss bullpen and scored an insurance run in the
eighth off of an error by the second baseman.
“He kind of ignites our offense a little bit,” Gaspard said.
“Cobie gets good at-bats no matter where we put him in the lineup, but I liked
him in the one hole and I know we are going to get good, strong at-bats every
time he comes up.”
Alabama will be back in action on Sunday for the rubber
match of the series. Tomorrow’s projected starter for Alabama is Nick Eicholtz.
Eicholtz picked up a win last weekend against Kentucky when he pitched 7.2
innings of just one-run ball.
Source:: The Crimson White Sports
