By: L. Clay Pruitt

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama’s offense dominates once again to beat the Richmond Spiders 13-1 and secure the series victory.

Ben Hess threw the first pitch of the game, which turned out to be a ground out to Colby Shelton on third. Hess led The Tide through six scoreless innings. He ended with three hits, six strikeouts, and no walks. Coach Bohannon said, “Ben got us off to a great start.”

Alabama’s offense started off Saturday’s game with a single home run bomb delivered by Andrew Pinckney. That kept his batting average at an impressive 1.000 so far on the season. Pinckney hit the home run off Richmond starting pitcher, Josh Willitts.

The Spiders recorded two hits by Jared Sprague-Lott and D.J. Pacheco in the top of the second. Alabama’s defense was too strong as a ground out stranded the runners on third and second.

Tommy Seidl led off the bottom of the second inning for The Tide with a single to second. Drew Williamson was walked while Seidl advanced to second. This set up Caden Rose to blast a ball outside of the park for a home run. This brought in both Seidl and Williamson. These would not be Rose’s final RBIs of the game. Jim Jarvis shot a triple down the right field line. This allowed Shelton to sacrifice fly out to right field which brought in Jarvis for an RBI. The Tide ended the fourth with a score of 5-0.

Bottom of the third, Alabama continued to add to their lead when Ed Johnson doubled to left center, that brought in Tamez. Rose also singled up the middle which scored Johnson and Williamson. This would end up being Rose’s fourth and fifth RBIs of the game. Richmond hoped to stop The Tide’s offense when they brought in a new pitcher, Jake Michel. Michel would get The Spiders out of a tough inning. The Tide went into the top of the fourth inning, leading 8-0.

Ben Hess led Alabama with another three up, three down inning. Hess had two strikeouts in this inning.

Alabama did not let up on The Spiders as Will Hodo grounded out to Pacheco at second base, but this brought in Shelton as an RBI. Seidl followed in Hodo’s lead when he scored his first RBI on a SAC fly. Williamson would be the last Bama batter to score an RBI in this inning when he brought in Tamez on a single to second base. The Tide increased the lead 11-0.

Once again, Hess led Bama with another scoreless inning. Hess struck out Jake Elberry swinging to give Alabama their second out of the top of the fifth.

The last inning in Saturday’s game where Alabama scored was the bottom of the fifth. William Hamiter, or as fans call him “Hammy”, grounded out to The Spider’s short stop. This scored Jarvis. Hodo recorded his second RBI of the game with a single to center, which brought in Portera to increase The Tide’s lead 13-0.

The Richmond Spiders scored their first only run of the game when Elbeery singled to left field. This scored Johnny Hipsman.

Caden Rose ended the game with one home run and five RBIs on three at bats. Andrew Pinckney also ended with a home run and a single RBI.

Ben Hess received the win for this game. Hess said, “My fast ball was my best today.” He improved to 1-0 on the season.

The Crimson Tide ended the game 13-1 and moved to 2-0 on the season. Alabama looks to sweep The Spiders tomorrow, first pitch is at 12 p.m. CT.