Alabama
Alabama Baseball Suffers Second Straight Late-Inning Loss to South Carolina
A pitcher’s duel between Alabama and South Carolina completed in favor of the Gamecocks, 2-1, on Saturday evening at Founders Park. The Crimson Tide is now 25-19 on the season and 9/11 in Southeastern Convention play.
“It’s the identical story – we’re doing lots of actually good issues, put collectively some actually good items, however we make a crucial mistake that the opposite staff takes benefit of,” mentioned Alabama head coach Brad Bohannon. “They discovered a method to put a ball in play with a runner at third and fewer than two outs, and we haven’t been doing that. In the event you stroll the leadoff batter in a tie recreation within the eighth, it’s going to come back again and get you.”
Jacob McNairy was masterful on Friday, tossing a career-high 112 pitches throughout 7.0 innings to match his career-long begin. The senior allowed only one run on 5 hits and issued two walks whereas placing out seven to tie his career-best complete. He stored the ball down all evening, recording 9 groundball outs, together with a double play, along with his lone mistake approaching a solo house run within the third.
The Tide was in a position to reply with one run within the high of the eighth, because of an RBI-single from Dominic Tamez. South Carolina got here proper again to regain the lead within the house half with a sacrifice fly proving the distinction.
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South Carolina starter Noah Corridor matched McNairy with a formidable outing, working 7.0 scoreless with eight punchouts. Matthew Becker (2-3) picked up the win in aid for SC, whereas Dylan Ray (1-3) suffered the loss.
How It Occurred
- B3 | Kevin Madden led off the inning with a house run. (1-0, South Carolina)
- T8 | Jim Jarvis singled to begin the rally earlier than advancing to second on a wild pitch. A stroll to Andrew Pinckney got here on a ball-four wild pitch, placing runners on the corners. One out later, Dominic Tamez delivered with an RBI-single by the precise facet to tie issues up. (1-1)
- B8 | The leadoff man walked and stole second with an errant throw permitting him to maneuver to 3rd. A sacrifice fly in that very same at-bat resulted within the go-ahead run for the Gamecocks. (2-1, South Carolina)
Postgame Notes
- Jacob McNairy tossed a career-high 112 pitches in his begin. His earlier excessive for pitches was 89 in his final outing towards Georgia on April 23.
- McNairy logged 7.0 innings to match his career-long begin. The senior additionally tossed 7.0 innings on March 2 towards Troy.
- The seven strikeouts from McNairy matched his career-high complete. He additionally had seven strikeouts on two earlier events, most not too long ago at Mississippi State on March 26.
- Drew Williamson’s hitting streak got here to an finish at 9 video games. Over that streak, the senior batted .378 (14-37) with two doubles, one triple, two house runs, seven RBI, 5 runs scored and three walks.
- Williamson’s reached base streak ended at 19 straight video games. The streak dated again to March 27.
The Crimson Tide and Gamecocks will meet at 11 a.m. CT within the collection finale. Alabama will look to sophomore left-hander Grayson Hitt for the beginning whereas South Carolina calls on righty Will Sanders, additionally a sophomore. Saturday’s matchup will probably be broadcast nationally on SEC Community.
Alabama
Portion of Alabama 59 in Baldwin County closed following two-vehicle crash
BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. (WALA) – A two-vehicle crash on Alabama 59 near Baldwin County 34 has closed down the road, according to law enforcement.
Authorities said the crash occurred at 8:23 pm.
Law enforcement is on scene investigating and there is no timetable on when it will be reopened.
Copyright 2024 WALA. All rights reserved.
Alabama
Alabama’s recent focus on defense pays off in blowout win over Kent State
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Nate Oats started his postgame press conference explaining why Alabama would have a much better winter break after its 81-54 win over Kent State. According to Oats, a happy holiday hinged on the Tide’s defensive performance against the Golden Flashes.
“Much better defensive effort so it’ll be a lot better Christmas break for us,” Oats said with a smile at the podium. “We did make a big point of emphasis on defense, especially after that debacle up in North Dakota with [Fighting Hawks guard Treysen Eaglestaff].”
It was far from a perfect offensive display for the Tide against Kent State. Alabama’s lingering turnover issues reared its ugly head for a second straight and the Tide continued shooting poorly from 3-point range.
However, after defensive letdowns nearly sprang an upset in Grand Forks, North Dakota, Alabama got back to the basics over the next few days at practice. The team worked on defensive fundamentals rather than solely focusing on film study.
That extra emphasis paid off as Alabama equaled its lowest points allowed in a game this season with 54. Tide forward Grant Nelson swatted a shot attempt by Kent State’s leading scorer VonCameron Davis in the opening few minutes, which helped set the tone the rest of the way.
“I think that [block] and just really everyone loading in the gaps, helping each other out,” Nelson said of Alabama’s defensive performance. “I thought that was huge. I think we kept them to six points in the first three media timeouts, that was huge for us. We emphasized that like I said and just a lot of credit to our guys for carrying it over on the court.”
While Alabama didn’t shoot the ball well, it made sure Kent State’s shooting was even more ineffective. Alabama communicated well on switches and contested shots from beyond the arc. It honed in on Davis, who averages 14.9 points per game but was limited to under 10 points for just the second time this season. Davis scored nine on an inefficient 4 of 15 from the field and had a minus-31 box plus-minus rating.
Coming into the game, Oats also felt like Kent State guard Jalen Sullinger (9.7 points per game) could be a dangerous weapon against Alabama’s defense with the potential to do the same thing Eaglestaff did for North Dakota. The Fighting Hawks guard scored a career-high 40 points, single-handedly pulling them back into the game late.
After missing the mark severely on guarding Eaglestaff, the Tide understood the assignment when it came to Sullinger and locked down the Kent State senior.
“He ended up shooting 1 of 14 and didn’t score in the second half,” Oats said. “So I think we did a little bit of a better job being locked in to a perimeter guy. We held them to a pretty good field goal percentage, they only shot 28%. Traditionally, this has been one of the hardest playing teams — I was in the MAC for six years and they get all of the O Boards. We gave up too many second-chance points but I thought for the most part our first-shot defense was good.”
Alabama continued to play effective post-defense in spite of the offensive rebounds. The Tide finished with six blocks as a team. Center Clifford Omoruyi won the Hard Hat Award for the most blue collar points and grabbed 12 rebounds while Nelson had 14. Off the bench, Derrion Reid had a pair of steals while Mouhamed Dioubate chipped in with two blocks.
Following the win, Alabama jumped from No. 57 to No. 42 in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com. As the Tide looks to build on its defensive momentum, better play on offense will have to follow. Alabama’s defense is much improved from last season when it was at its best, but it won’t be able to win games on defense alone when league play tips off on Jan. 4.
“We struggled a little offensively, and we’re gonna have to figure some stuff out here before SEC play,” Oats said. “The turnovers have been really just way too many — 13 in the first half. We did the same thing two games in a row. We only had one the second half against North Dakota. We ended up with six in the second half here. So we’ve got to do a better job at turnovers. I don’t have an answer for the free throw problems, but the only way to fix that is get in the gym and work. The good thing for us is we don’t have any school for a few weeks here, so after they get back from Christmas break, we’ll be in the gym and putting some time in.”
Alabama will conclude non-conference play against Summit League side South Dakota State. The Tide and Jackrabbits will tip off at 2 p.m. CT Dec. 29 inside Coleman Coliseum. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.
Alabama
How cold did Alabama get last night? These cities had the lowest temperatures
Very cold temperatures greeted Alabamians on Sunday morning.
The National Weather Service said temperatures overnight bottomed out in the low 20s in parts of the state and even were at the freezing mark in south Alabama.
Here were the lowest temperatures between midnight and 6 a.m. Sunday from around Alabama from the National Weather Service:
* Alexander City: 30 degrees
* Anniston: 23 degrees
* Auburn: 28 degrees
* Birmingham: 24 degrees
* Decatur: 25 degrees
* Demopolis: 25 degrees
* Dothan: 30 degrees
* Evergreen: 28 degrees
* Eufaula: 28 degrees
* Gadsden: 21 degrees
* Haleyville: 22 degrees
* Huntsville: 26 degrees
* Mobile: 31 degrees
* Montgomery: 25 degrees
* Muscle Shoals: 24 degrees
* Ozark: 29 degrees
* Prattville: 25 degrees
* Sylacauga: 24 degrees
* Talladega: 22 degrees
* Troy: 26 degrees
* Tuscaloosa: 25 degrees
Temperatures today will be a few degrees higher than on Saturday. Highs will range from the low to mid-40s in south Alabama to the 50s in central Alabama, to the mid-50s in south Alabama (today’s forecast is at the top of this post).
Tonight will be chilly again, but not as cold as last night. Here are the forecast low temperatures from Sunday night into Monday morning:
Gradual warming is expected to continue this week, with the next chances for rain arriving on Wednesday, Christmas Day. The weather service isn’t expecting a lot of rain, and no severe weather is anticipated.
High temperatures on Christmas Day will be warmer, with 60s expected across a wide area and possibly some 70s near the coast. Here are the expected Christmas Day temperatures:
The warming trend looks to hold past Christmas. Here is the six- to 10-day temperature outlook, and it shows a high probability of above-average temperatures for Alabama through the end of December:
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