Alabama Set for Three-Game Series with Texas A&M at Sewell-Thomas Stadium
4/12/2017 4:50:00 PM | Baseball
The Crimson Tide and Aggies will meet for the 16th time in series history on Thursday night
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama welcomes Texas A&M to Sewell-Thomas Stadium for a three-game Southeastern Conference series from Thursday through Saturday. The Crimson Tide and Aggies are slated for a 6 p.m. CT first pitch on both Thursday and Friday evening. Saturday's series finale is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. CT. All three games can be seen live on SEC Network+ with the duo of Eli Gold and Lance Cormier calling all the action.
FOLLOW THE TIDE
Fans can follow this weekend's games via the below outlets:
Watch: SEC Network+
Listen: 102.9 FM / CTSN / TuneIn App
Twitter: @AlabamaBSB
Live Stats: RollTide.com
LEADING OFF
• Texas A&M comes to Tuscaloosa with a 23-11 overall record, including a 5-7 Southeastern Conference mark. The Aggies were swept by Kentucky to start conference play, before winning one game against Vanderbilt the next weekend in Nashville. A&M has bounced back to win each of its last two SEC series, first defeating then-No. 6 LSU, 2-1, in Baton Rouge, before taking down 11th-ranked Auburn at home last weekend, winning the final two games of the pairing for the series victory. Most recently the Aggies defeated Abilene Christian, 8-1, on Tuesday evening in College Station.
• Alabama and Texas A&M will meet for the 16th time when the two teams square off on Thursday evening. The Aggies hold the overall advantage, 9-6, but the Tide maintains a 3-2 advantage when playing at home. Last season, A&M took the first and third games of the weekend in College Station for the series victory.
• The Crimson Tide will look to its veteran starters for the three-game series. Alabama will first send junior right-hander Jake Walters to the hill on Thursday before calling on sophomore lefty Dylan Duarte in the series' second game. The finale on Saturday will feature senior Nick Eicholtz, a right-hander.
• The Aggies will use three right-handers for the series in Tuscaloosa. Getting the nod for Thursday's series opener is junior Brigham Hill, followed by junior Corbin Martin on Friday evening. Sophomore Stephen Kolek will get the starting nod in Saturday's series finale.
• This weekend will be Alabama's "Bama Salute" weekend at The Joe, recognizing all service men and women. Throwing out the first pitch in Thursday's opener will be sophomore quarterback, Jalen Hurts. The pregame will also feature a student corn hole challenge on Thursday. The student organization of the game on Thursday will be the Alpha Phi sorority. On Friday, the first 500 fans through the gates will receive "Bama Salute" rally towels, while the first 150 students through the gate can get a free chicken biscuit from Jack's. The University of Alabama Air Force and Army ROTC will also be recognized at Friday's game. Saturday will resume the Tide's "Saturday Entertainment Series" with the Matt Jones Band playing on the main concourse prior to first pitch. The series finale will also be Scout Day with Turning Point USA being recognized as the student organization of the game.
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
FRIDAY: UA – Jake Walters (Jr., RHP) vs. A&M – Brigham Hill (Jr., RHP)
SATURDAY: UA – Dylan Duarte (So., LHP) vs. A&M – Corbin Martin (Jr., RHP)
SUNDAY: UA – Nick Eicholtz (Sr., RHP) vs. A&M – Stephen Kolek (So., RHP)
SCOUTING ALABAMA
• The Crimson Tide took down UAB on Tuesday night at Sewell-Thomas Stadium to snap a five-game losing the streak. Last weekend, Alabama suffered a series sweep in Oxford against the Ole Miss Rebels.
• Tuesday saw Alabama hold off a ninth-inning comeback by UAB for the 6-4 win over the Blazers, completing the season sweep for 2017. The Crimson Tide received a strong outing from starter Zac Rogers in his first career start. Rogers tossed 4.0 scoreless, hitless innings, issuing two walks and striking out a career-high four batters.
• Rogers was followed by Garrett Suchey, with the junior earning his second win of the season thanks to 3.0 innings of scoreless relief. The Blazers plated four in the top of the ninth, but Mike Oczypok entered for the final two outs of the game to record his first career save.
• Alabama fell, 8-2, at Ole Miss on Sunday afternoon. UA battled all afternoon, reaching runners in seven of the nine innings and putting runners in scoring position in four of those frames, but came up just short by day's end. The Tide offense received multi-hit games from Hunter Alexander, who finished 3-for-4 with an RBI, one run scored and a walk, and Gene Wood, who wrapped up his day 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored.
• The Tide suffered a 5-4 loss on Saturday, as a ninth-inning, solo home run to left by Ole Miss helped the Rebels walk it off against Alabama. UA scored one run apiece in the second, third, fourth and sixth innings, but the Rebels tallied one in the fourth and put up a three-spot in the sixth to even things up at 4-4. The two teams would remain scoreless until the bottom of the ninth when a walkoff home run from Tate Blackman ended the game in favor of Ole Miss.
• Alabama opened at Ole Miss with a 7-2 loss on Friday evening in front of 8,456 fans at Swayze Field. The Crimson Tide was able to strike early with one run in the top of the first, using a leadoff walk and two wild pitches to get a man into scoring position before scoring him two outs later. Alabama then led off the second with a single, and another wild pitch but a Tide runner in scoring position, but UA was unable to bring him across.
• Ole Miss starter James McArthur would not allow another Alabama baserunner to move past first the rest of the night and went on to retire the final 10 batters he faced before his outing was over.
• The Crimson Tide returned Tuscaloosa in 2016 after spending 2015 on the road while Sewell-Thomas Stadium was undergoing renovations. Alabama finished with a 19-12 home record at The Joe compared to a 13-14 record in road and neutral-site contests in the first year of the new stadium.
• Alabama's roster features 20 letterwinners from the 2016 squad that reached the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala. The 2017 Tide returns five positional starters and three starting pitchers while welcoming 16 newcomers.
SERIES HISTORY – TEXAS A&M
• Alabama and Texas A&M will meet for the 16th time when the two teams square off on Thursday evening. The Aggies hold the overall advantage, 9-6, but the Tide maintains a 3-2 advantage when playing at home.
• The series dates back to 1995 with a pair of matchups before a break that lasted until the 2003 season. Once A&M joined the SEC in 2013, the Tide and Aggies have met for a weekend series each season since.
• Texas A&M won the first three matchups in series history before the Tide claimed victories in the first two games as SEC West rivals in 2013. Alabama won the 2014 series in College Station, 2-1, but A&M has taken each of the last two series from UA in the past two seasons.
• Last season, Alabama traveled to College Station to square off with the then-No. 3 Aggies from April 22-24. All three games were close matchups, with the series opener going in favor of A&M, 4-3, in 10 innings. The middle game wrapped up as a 7-4 Crimson Tide victory before the finale went to the Aggies, 2-1, for the series win on their home turf.
• The series opener in College Station went into extras, with the Aggies claiming the 4-3, walkoff win in the bottom of the 10th inning. Geoffrey Bramblett allowed three runs in the first inning, but settled down over the final five frames, stranding six and keeping A&M off the board the rest of the way. Chandler Taylor evened things up at 3-3 in the sixth with his fifth home run of the season before the two teams went scoreless to send it to extras, where the Aggies would claim game one.
• Alabama evened up the series on Saturday with a 7-4 win, as the Tide offense exploded for 13 hits, the Tide's most in a nine-inning SEC game up to that point. The hitting was led by the Tide's 5-6-7 hitters in Chandler Taylor, Cobie Vance and Cody Henry, with the trio finishing a combined 8-for-15 with all five extra-base hits, four RBI and five runs scored on the afternoon. Jake Walters grinded out 5.2 innings of scoreless baseball to earn his fourth win of the season.
• The Aggies walked it off for the second time on the weekend, earning a 2-1 win over the Tide in Sunday's rubber match. The two teams were even at 1-1 after six innings of play until the ninth, when A&M used a one-out single to center to end the game. Nick Eicholtz, battling stomach issues, spun another gem, working 7.0 innings of one-run baseball, allowing six hits and no walks while striking out a season-high five batters. He wrapped up his day recording the final nine outs in order to limit the high-powered Texas A&M offense, which entered the weekend atop nearly every hitting metric in the conference.
• Alabama head coach Greg Goff has never faced Texas A&M.
ON DECK
Alabama will remain in Tuscaloosa to close out its five-game homestand with a Tuesday matchup against the Alcorn State Braves. First pitch of the midweek contest is set for 6 p.m. CT at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
