May 2, 2008

Box Score

Updated Season Statistics

Updated SEC Statistics

Fayetteville, Ark. - Alabama junior right fielder Kent Matthes drove in a career-high five runs to lead the Crimson Tide to an 11-7 series-opening win over the Arkansas Razorbacks in front of 8,041 fans at Baum Stadium Friday night.

With the win, Alabama moves into a first-place tie with Ole Miss in the SEC Western Division standings with eight games to play. The Crimson Tide and Rebels are 11-11 in SEC play after Ole Miss's 5-4 loss at Georgia on Friday. Alabama owns the tie-breaker over Ole Miss by virtue of its series win over the Rebels in Tuscaloosa in March.

Matthes hit a three-run home run to cap a six-run fourth inning that gave Alabama a 7-4 lead on Friday night. He added an RBI single in a three-run eighth inning as the Tide cemented the 11-7 victory.

Freshman Jimmy Nelson (3-2) picked up his second victory in four days and earned his first career SEC win as he allowed one run and five hits in 4 and 1/3 innings.

Nelson allowed a leadoff double and a walk in the ninth and turned the game over to sophomore Austin Graham, who struck out the side for his third save.

"Nelson came in and did a good job," Alabama head coach Jim Wells said. "He gave us a chance to win the game and did not make us have to use up our bullpen. That was the key."

Alabama (27-21, 11-11 SEC), winners of its last four games, scored six runs in the fourth inning to take a 7-4 lead that it never relinquished.

Down 4-1 in the fourth, the Crimson Tide scored six runs on five hits with two outs to take a 7-4 lead. Junior Kyle Moore led off the inning with a single and later scored on a two-out single by shortstop Josh Rutledge, who extended his hitting streak to 24 straight games. Freshman Ross Wilson followed with an RBI double to score Rutledge and chase Arkansas starter Dallas Keuchel, who was charged with four runs and seven hits in 3 and 2/3 innings.

Sophomore Brandon May reached on an error as Wilson scored the tying run from third base. Avila followed with a single to right center field and Matthes capped the inning with a three-run home run into the Arkansas bullpen to give the Tide a 7-4 lead. It was Matthes' eighth home run of the season.

Travis Hill (2-2), the second of four Arkansas pitchers, took the loss after he allowed four runs and three hits in one-third of an inning.

Alabama was 9 for 20 and scored eight of its 11 runs with two outs in the opener.

UA starter Miers Quigley held the lead but could not escape the bottom of the fourth inning as the Razorbacks scored two more runs to close the gap to 7-6. Andrew Darr had a leadoff walk and Ryan Cisterna followed with a double to left to put runners at second and third with no outs. Scott Lyons' ground out scored Darr and Sean Jones' sacrifice fly brought home Cisterna to make it 7-6.

Ben Tscehpikow's single up the middle chased Quigley with two outs. Nelson came in and allowed a base hit to Forsythe and a two-out walk to Coon before striking out Smalling to end the inning as Arkansas left the bases loaded. Quigley was charged with six runs and eight hits in 3 and 2/3 innings.

Alabama upped its lead to 8-6 in the fifth as Moore led off the inning with his first career triple and scored on sophomore Jake Smith's sacrifice fly to left.

The Razorbacks made it an 8-7 game on pinch-hitter Chase Leavitt's two-out infield single that scored pinch-hitter Jeff Nutt in the bottom of the fifth, but got no closer off Nelson.

After escaping a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the top of the second, Arkansas strung together three straight hits in the bottom of the second inning to grab a 2-0 lead. Casey Coon, Tim Smalling and Brett Eibner led off the inning with consecutive singles to take a 1-0 lead as Eibner drove in Coon with the first run of the game. Smalling later scored on Ryan Cisterna's sacrifice fly to center field.

The Tide answered with a run in the top of the third inning when Matthes lined a two-out single up the middle to score sophomore Brandon May to cut the lead to 2-1. May reached on a two-out double to right center and junior Alex Avila drew a four-pitch walk to set up Matthes' two-out hit.

Arkansas (27-19, 9-12 SEC) extended the lead to 4-1 on Logan Forsythe's two-run home run in the bottom of the third inning. Tschepikow, who drew a walk, scored on the play. It was Fortythe's fifth home run of the season.

Alabama and Arkansas will meet in game two of the series at 2:05 p.m. on Saturday.

GAME NOTES:

*Alabama extended its winning streak to four games with the win, its first Friday night SEC road win this season.

*Alabama was 9 for 20 with nine runs scored and eight RBI with two outs, including all six runs in the fourth inning and all three runs in the eighth inning.

*Freshman Jimmy Nelson (Niceville, Fla.) picked up his second win in four days and his first SEC win. Nelson allowed one run and five hits in 4 and 1/3 innings. In two wins this week, he has allowed one run in 7 and 1/3 innings on the mound, all in relief.

*Sophomore Austin Graham (Hoover, Ala.) struck out the side in the ninth inning for his third save. All three saves have come in the last four games.

*Junior Kent Matthes (Orlando, Fla.) tied his career-high with five RBI in the win. He also had five RBI in a 12-6 win over Jacksonville State on March 25. Matthes has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games, dating back to April 12. In those 12 games, he is hitting .432 (19 for 44) with 12 runs scored, three doubles, three home runs and 13 RBI. He has also hit safely in nine of his last 10 SEC games, where he is hitting .375 (15 for 40) with eight runs scored, three doubles, two home runs and nine RBI.

*Sophomore left fielder Brandon May (Marietta, Ga.) was 2 for 5 with three runs scored and has now hit safely in 17 of his last 18 games, dating back to April 6. In those 18 games, May is batting .400 (30 for 75) with 19 runs scored, seven doubles, four home runs and 15 RBI. May is currently riding an eight-game hitting streak, where he is batting .333 (11 for 33) with nine runs scored, two doubles, one home run and three RBI.

*Freshman shortstop Josh Rutledge extended his hitting streak to 24 games with a two-out RBI single in the fourth inning. Rutledge also has a 19-game SEC hitting streak. During the hitting streak, Rutledge is batting .424 (46 for 104) with six extra base hits, 25 runs scored and 15 RBI. In his 19-game SEC hitting streak, Rutledge is batting .482 (39 for 81) with five extra base hits, nine RBI and 20 runs scored.

*Junior Alex Avila (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) is 52 for 146 (.356) in his last 38 games for the Tide. He has hit safely in 24 of his last 27 games, where he is batting .368 (39 for 106) with 24 runs scored, eight doubles, one triple, five home runs and 26 RBI. Since April 2, Avila has hit safely in 17 of his last 18 games. In those 18 games, he is batting .426 (30 for 71) with 16 runs scored, seven doubles, one triple, three home runs and 20 RBI. He is riding a seven-game hitting streak, where he is batting .520 (13 for 25) with eight runs scored, two doubles, one home run and nine RBI. Avila has hit safely in 19 of 22 SEC games this season.

*Alabama center fielder Alex Kubal recorded his fourth outfield assist of the season as he threw out Arkansas left fielder Casey Coon at third base to end the third inning. Kubal made a running catch of a Brett Eibner fly ball to right center field and then relayed to shortstop Josh Rutledge, who nailed Coon at third to end the inning. As a team, Alabama has 14 outfield assists this season.

-UA-