UA Clinches Share of SEC Western Division Title
5/19/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The No. 8 Alabama Crimson Tide clinched at least a tie for the 2006 Southeastern Conference Western Division championship with a resounding 11-3 win over the Tennessee Volunteers in front of 2,179 fans at Lindsey Nelson Stadium Thursday night.
The Crimson Tide rapped out 11 runs on 18 hits to clinch a share of the SEC Western Division title, its third under head coach Jim Wells and first since 2002.
Alabama's (37-17, 18-10 SEC) win coupled with Kentucky's 10-9 loss at Georgia (UGa trailed 9-2 at one point) moves the Crimson Tide to within one game of UK for first place in the overall SEC standings. With Thursday's win, Alabama can finish no worse than fourth in the SEC standings.
Tennessee (31-22, 11-16 SEC) is one game from being eliminated from SEC Tournament contention. LSU beat Florida 7-3 and now leads the Vols by 1 1/2 games with two to play. An LSU win or Tennessee loss will cinch a tournament berth for the Tigers. South Carolina and Vanderbilt both clinched spots in Hoover on Thursday with Tennessee's and Miss. State's losses.
Alabama roughed up UT starter Craig Cobb for a Tennessee single-game record 18 hits in the series opening win. Cobb (9-3) allowed 11 runs and 18 hits in seven innings, with one walk and four strikeouts.
The 18 hits allowed by Cobb surpassed the old UT record of 15 hits allowed by Jeffrey Terrell (vs. Alabama, 2002), R.A. Dickey (vs. CS Fullerton, 1995) and Allen Halliday (vs. Ole Miss, 1989). Cobb also allowed 11 earned runs in the loss, missing the single-game of 12 earned runs allowed by a trio of Vol pitchers.
Senior third baseman Matt Downs and senior catcher Kody Valverde had a career-high four hits each in the win. Downs was 4-for-5 with two runs scored and one RBI, while Valverde was 4-for-6 with two runs scored.
"I got myself in advantage counts and some fastballs to hit," Downs said. "I put some good swings on the ball tonight. This is a big start to the weekend. Hopefully, we can keep it going tomorrow."
Freshman right fielder Rayn Rhoden added three hits and two RBI in the win over the Vols. Senior first baseman Spencer Pennington added two hits and three RBI, including a game-clinching three-run home run in the Tide's five-run sixth inning that gave the Tide a seven-run lead.
Alabama and starter Bernard Robert survived a shaky first inning that saw Tennessee score two run on three pitches to grab a quick 2-0 lead.
Julio Borbon led off the game with a fly ball into right-center field that was misplayed by Rhoden into a lead off triple. Borbon trotted home on the next pitch when Tony Delmonico lifted a sacrifice fly to right field for the 1-0 lead. Chris Kemp then smashed the next pitch over the wall in deep right center to give the Vols a 2-0 lead. It was Kemp's 11th home run of the season.
Robert (7-5) settled down after the shaky first inning and held UT to one run and seven hits over the next seven innings to snap a personal three-game losing streak. Robert allowed three runs and nine hits in the win, with two walks and five strikeouts for his first win since April 9 at No. 1 South Carolina.
UA took the lead in the fourth inning with a back-to-back two outs base hits by Salem and Downs to put UA in front 3-2. Rhoden led off the inning with base hit up the middle and moved to second base when Pennington reached on an error by UT second baseman Michael Rivera.
Cobb, who stranded the bases loaded in the first inning, looked like he was going to wriggle off the hook in the fourth. After two unsuccessful sac bunt attempts, Belcher fouled out to third base Cody Brown and then Paiml struck out looking for the second out.
Rhoden and Pennington advanced on a passed ball by UT catcher J.P. Arencibia and Salem followed with a sharp single up the middle to tie the game at 2-2. Salem took second base when Borbon's throw from center missed the cutout man. Downs followed with a single to left field to score Salem and give Bama the 3-2 lead.
The lead was short-lived as Arencibia led off the bottom of the inning with his 11th home run of the season to tie the game at 3-3.
Alabama regained the lead in the fifth inning and seized control of the game in the next two innings with two runs in the fifth inning and five more runs in the sixth for a 10-3 lead.
Bama regained the lead in the fifth inning with two runs on four hits. The Crimson Tide opened the inning with three straight hits by Valverde, Bush and Rhoden. Valverde scored on Rhoden's base hit to left to give UA a 4-3 lead. Paiml later added a sac fly to score Bush to make it a 5-3 game.
Tennessee put two runners on base with no outs in the bottom of the inning but did not score.
The Crimson Tide then came back with a five-run, sixth inning that salted the game away.
Downs opened the inning with a triple to right center field and scored on Avila's base hit to right field. Valverde reached on an infield hit to put runners at first and second. After Bush flied out, Rhoden recorded his third hit of the game, an RBI single to left to give the Tide a 7-3 lead.
Pennington put an exclamation point on the inning with a three-run home to right field as the Crimson Tide extended its lead to 10-3. It was Pennington's third home run of the season and all three have come in the last three SEC series.
Alabama increased its lead to 11-3 in the seventh inning when Downs double off the wall in left and scored on Avila's base hit to right field.
GAME NOTES:
*The SEC is playing its final series of the 2006 season with a new Thursday-Friday-Saturday format. The format was passed by the league's head coaches, athletics directors and president's to give the teams an extra day to get ready for next week's SEC Tournament (May 24-28) at the Hoover Met. The last time Alabama played a Thursday-Friday-Saturday regular season series was Feb. 10-12, 2000 when the Crimson Tide opened the season with Brigham Young in the newly expanded Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
*Alabama extended its winning streak to three games with its 11-3 win over Tennessee on Thursday night.
*Downs (4-for-5, 2 R, 2B, 3B, RBI) had a career-high four hits in the win over UT.
*Valverde (4-for-6, 2 R, 2B) had a career-high four hits in the win over the Vols.
*Pennington hit his third home run of the season, a three-run blast in the sixth inning that gave the Tide a 10-3 lead. Pennington has homered in each of UA's last three SEC series against Arkansas, Florida and Tennessee. Prior to the Arkansas series, Pennington had not hit a home run since April 7, 2002.
*Pennington has 13 RBI in his last 11 games for Alabama.
