TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama Baseball weathered the storm with two 30-minutes + rain delay and bounced back after coming up just short in game two with the 8-4 win against the No. 9 Oklahoma Sooners to win its second SEC series of the season and first at the Joe.
Aedan Finateri toed the slab for his first weekend start of the season and did a good job at not snowballing after allowing the first run out of the gate and got out of an early jam that gave the transfer confidence the rest of the afternoon.
“He executed pitches, minimized damage, and was able to give us almost five innings, which was outstanding,” said head coach Rob Vaughn.
Jason Torres has had a turnaround weekend to boost the confidence and that continued into Sunday after he deposited a fastball off of Malachi Witherspoon for a three-run blast in the bottom of the first in an inning the Tide have not scored in during SEC play until today and his first home run since March 11th against UAB and now has eight on the season. Torres had his best weekend at the plate against an SEC team and finished the game 1-4.
The game’s first delay happened in the second, and the Tide really continued to apply pressure offensively, with runs in the second, third, and forth, RBIs from Ritchie Bonomolo Jr. on a groundout, Will Hodo with his first hit of the series, a homer to the opposite field for a solo blast, and in the fourth, an RBI groundout by Captain Kade Snell and then a misplayed flyball by the right fielder that allowed two runs to come home.
A few scares came in the top of the fifth where Jason Walk split the left field gap and caused both Bonomolo Jr. and Snell to collide, with Snell being forced to leave the game and Bonomolo returned the next inning after being cleared from concussion protocol. Snell had to get stitches on a cut from the arm.
“Obviously a scary collision and when one of the toughest kids is down you know its something,” said Vaughn.
Finateri went on to finish the game and went a season-high 4.2 innings to get the Tide staff rolling, allowed two ER struck out four and only walked three on 69 pitches.
The Sooners have scratched and clawed all weekend in what has been an even series between the two teams and made it a tight game in the seventh with Coulson Buchanan in the game and scored on a fielder’s choice groundout and an RBI single with a out single by Brayden Horton to cut the lead in half. A big play to bail out new pitcher Tyler Fay by Bryce Fowler who made a diving catch to rob the Sooners of two runs that proved to be the difference in the ballgame. Fay pitched the eighth where the Sooners homered on a no-doubter by Dayton Tockey to right-field to cut the lead to two.
After another delay, the Tide came back out, and Carson Ozmer finished the game in a sweat-free 1-2-3 frame to give the Tide the series win in a crucial game. Matthew Heiberger, Buchanan, Fay, Braylon Myers, and Ozmer all combined to pitch 4.1 innings, combined for five punchouts as a group, and allowed four runs.
The Tide had the Witherspoon twins’ number, with eight runs earned between the two brothers. The Tide won both games against the twins.
Up next for Alabama is a midweek battle against Samford, with Alabama starter Garrett Staton playing his former team. The first pitch is set for Tuesday at 6 p.m. central on the SEC Network+.
