By:Nicholas Elliott

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.- After coming off a 1-2 start in conference play and taking the rubber match on Friday, Alabama looked to continue building momentum into the weekend with a 12-2 run ruling win in eight innings over the UAB Blazers.

Alabama’s Jacob McNairy got the ball for the Tide on the bump it was his first midweek start of the season, and it did not start the way he wanted to giving up four early singles, which gave the Blazers an early run in the first.

“I thought we slept walk thru the first three or four innings of the game,” said Coach Brad Bohannon on Alabama’s slow start.

After leaving seven runners left on base thru the first three innings Alabama was able to score off an E-7 by Jim Jarvis to manufacture two RBIs to grab the lead.

The sixth inning was where the Tide did all its damage when Caden Rose had an RBI double. Hodo also was able to record an RBI on a groundout. The game really opened up when Drew Williamson came up with two on and hit a towering home run to the Alabama students in right field to open the game up to a 7-1 lead.

“I felt like we did better in the back half of the game on staying aggressive and putting good swings on the ball,” said Williamson on what clicked in the late innings.

The Tide were able to substitute all of the starters for younger guys who were able to contribute offensively adding on five more runs in the seventh and eighth, letting the fans go home happy a little earlier with a run rule victory.

“Jacob is at his best when he’s sinking his fastballs at the bottom of the zone, and once he wiggled his way out of the traffic in the first he executed pitches very well,” said Bohannon on McNairy’s start.

McNairy was able to settle in nicely after the first inning retiring 13 straight batters to go along with four-K thru five innings, and was able to earn his third win on the season to bring the record to 3-1.

Tommy Seidl had a perfect day at the plate for the Crimson Tide going 3/3 with two singles and a double and also was able to draw one walk. Williamson went 2/4 and had his eighth homer on the season. Jarvis

Alabama moves to 18-4 on the season and will host number 23 Kentucky in its first home SEC series of the season. The first game of the series will be played on Friday March 24th at 6 central on the SEC Network +.