Baseball Travels to Montgomery to Face Auburn for Annual MAX Capital City Classic
3/26/2018 5:16:00 PM | Baseball
The Crimson Tide and Tigers will meet for the 10th time in the history of the non-conference pairing
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Crimson Tide will wrap up the current five-game road streak with a non-conference pairing against in-state rival Auburn on Tuesday evening at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, Ala. The contest will be the 10th in the history of the series, with AU holding an 8-1 all-time advantage in the game.
FOLLOW THE TIDE
Fans can follow Tuesday's matchup via the below outlets:
Listen: 102.9 FM / CTSN / TuneIn App
Twitter: @AlabamaBSB
Live Stats: RollTide.com
LEADING OFF
• Alabama and Auburn will meet for the 291st time in series history when the two teams square off on Tuesday night. The contest in Montgomery will be the 10th all-time meeting in the MAX Capital City Classic at Riverwalk Stadium, with the Tigers holding an 8-1 advantage in the non-conference series.
• The Crimson Tide holds the all-time series advantage at 160-130, but the two teams are even at 24-24 in neutral site contests.
• UA maintains a 7-3 advantage over the last 10 games and has not lost a season series to the Tigers since 2011, with the Crimson Tide either winning the series or trying at two games apiece.
• Alabama and Auburn last met from May 6-7, 2017, in Auburn. That series saw the Crimson Tide sweep the Tigers, including an 11-9, 15-inning win on getaway day in the longest game by minutes in Alabama baseball history at 6:36. The sweep of AU extended Alabama's win streak on the Plains to seven games to tie for the longest winning streak in Auburn in program history. The sweep of AU was also the Crimson Tide's only series win in SEC play in 2017.
• Auburn meets Alabama in Montgomery sporting a 20-5 overall record to earn the nation's No. 9 ranking by Baseball America. The Tigers spent last weekend in Lexington, falling in two of three games against the Kentucky Wildcats. Prior to their weekend with the Wildcats, Auburn fell in its midweek contest at Georgia Tech, 6-4, last Tuesday.
• Alabama will send junior right-hander Mason Duke to the hill on Tuesday. Duke has made two starts this season and seven appearances overall totaling 15.2 innings. The righty has not allowed a run this season and has struck out 18 compared to only three walks.
• Auburn will look to freshman southpaw Jack Owen in the midweek pairing. Owen has made four appearances in his first season of collegiate baseball, including one start. The left-hander sports a 6.10 ERA (7 ER/10.1 IP) and has tallied 10 strikeouts compared to five walks.
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUP
UA – Mason Duke (Jr., RHP) vs. AU – Jack Owen (Fr., LHP)
ABOUT ALABAMA
• Alabama is coming off a week that saw the Crimson Tide go 0-4 overall, losing three of the four games by two runs or less. The Tide first fell at UAB, 6-4, on Tuesday, before getting swept at Tennessee over the weekend.
• The Crimson Tide suffered its first midweek loss of the 2018 season, falling at UAB on Tuesday evening by a score of 6-4. Alabama got one run in the top of the first to take the early lead, but UAB came back with four runs in the home half of the inning and forced the Tide to play from behind all night.
• Alabama fell victim to Tennessee by a score of 5-4 on Friday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. In a game that featured three lead changes and two ties, Tennessee was able to come out on top.
• The Crimson Tide had the winning run in scoring position in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings but could not cross the go-ahead score. The bottom of the ninth saw the Volunteers draw a two-out walk followed by a costly Tide miscue to extend the inning. One more walk loaded the bases before the inning's final free pass crossed the winning run for UT.
• The Crimson Tide came up short in both games of the Sunday's doubleheader against the Vols.
• UA fell, 2-1, in game one of the day. After gaining the lead in the fifth, the Tide allowed two unearned runs in the sixth. The tight game featured two impressive pitching performances from each team's starter, with Jake Walters suffering the hard-luck loss.
• The Crimson Tide senior worked 5.2 innings, allowing two unearned runs on only four hits and two walks. Walters provided the Tide with his best start of the season, not allowing a hit until the fourth inning and striking out a season-high nine batters, which matched his most for a single game in SEC play for his career.
• Alabama was shut out, 3-0, in game two of the afternoon. The Tide received another strong game from its arms.
• Starter Garret Rukes contributed 3.0 innings, allowing two runs – both unearned – on three hits and two walks while striking out four. The left-hander turned the ball over to Kyle Cameron out of the bullpen. Cameron allowed one earned run on four hits with two strikeouts across his 3.0 relief innings to keep the Crimson Tide within striking distance.
• Alabama returned 21 letterwinners while losing 11 from the 2017 squad. The 2018 Crimson Tide welcomed back eight positional starters and three starting pitchers while hosting 11 newcomers (including one transfer who sat out last season).
ABOUT AUBURN
• Auburn returned 15 letterwinners, including six positional starters and eight pitchers, from the 2017 team that finished 37-26 overall and 16-14 in SEC play. AU finished ranked 25th in the final Baseball America poll after advancing to the Tallahassee Regional and coming within one pitch of advancing deeper into the playoffs. The 2018 roster is without 12 letterwinners from a season ago, a number that includes three positional starters and nine pitchers, while the Auburn welcomes 18 newcomers.
• The Tigers were selected to finish sixth in the West and 11th overall in the Southeastern Conference in the league's preseason poll, as voted on by the league's head coaches.
• Butch Thompson is in his third year leading the Auburn program and his fourth campaign overall as a head coach. A graduate of Birmingham-Southern, Thompson is assisted by Karl Nonemaker and Gabe Gross along with volunteer assistant Steve Smith.
• Auburn baseball was held a 2,008-1,366-6 record entering the 2018 campaign. The Tigers have made 20 NCAA Tournament appearances and have advanced to four College World Series, with the most recent coming in 1997.
• A public research university, Auburn is located in the same city as its namesake, and sports an enrollment of 29,776 students. Founded on Oct. 1, 1856 as East Alabama Male College under the guidance of the Methodist Church, the University was renamed to Auburn University in 1960.
ON DECK
Following the non-conference pairing with Auburn, Alabama will return home to host No. 7 Kentucky for a three-game series at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The Friday opener is scheduled for a 6 p.m. CT first pitch with Saturday's contest slated for a 2 p.m. start. Sunday's series finale is set for 1 p.m. All three games will air live on SEC Network+.
