Alabama
Alabama Baseball Uses Big Eighth Inning To Take Series Finale Against Tennessee | Rocky Top Insider
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Tennessee and Alabama baseball went back-and-forth in Sunday afternoon’s series finale in Tuscaloosa before the Crimson Tide scored three runs in the eighth inning to secure a 7-5 victory.
AJ Russell made his return to the mound and the Vols bats were relatively quiet as Alabama clinched the weekend series against Tennessee.
Here’s everything to know about the Sunday series rubber match.
AJ Russell Returns In Short Outing
Perhaps the best news of the weekend for Tennessee is that talented sophomore pitcher AJ Russell returned to the mound after missing the previous three weeks with side soreness that reared its ugly head in the series opener against UAlbany.
Russell was the Vols’ Friday night starter to open the season and is the most talented pitcher Tennessee has. Tony Vitello gave Russell the ball for the series finale and while it was an unsurprisingly short outing, the tall right-hander was solid in his return.
Russell threw 40 pitches in two innings. It was a shaky first few batters for Russell as he surrendered a single, allowed the runner to advance to second on a balk and then allowed a one-out RBI single.
But the talented sophomore was great from there. He got out of the first inning with a line out and a pop out before sitting down the Crimson Tide in order in the second.
Russell finished his day allowing two hits and one run while striking out two batters. He threw 28 strikes in 40 pitches as he was solid in his return to game action.
More From RTI: Tennessee vs. Alabama Game Three Play-By-Play
Both Bullpens Settle In
After Tennessee scored four runs against Alabama’s bullpen in the third inning and the Crimson Tide answered with two runs in the bottom half of the third and a leadoff home run in the fourth inning it looked like we might be in for a classic Sunday shootout.
But in the middle innings of the game, each bullpen eased into the game and found its footing.
For Alabama, RHP Braylon Myers was fantastic for three innings. In the fourth through six innings, Myers kept Tennessee off the scoreboard and allowed just two baserunners while pounding the strike zone and striking out two batters.
For Tennessee, it was key bullpen reliever Nate Snead. Snead came in with two runners on base and allowed both to score before giving up the solo homer to open up the fourth inning. It wasn’t the best start for the Wichita State transfer, but Snead settled in from there.
Snead got to the eighth inning with just giving up that lone run but that’s when he ran into trouble. More on that in a moment.
The game would have more runs in the final inning, but Snead and Myers turned in strong relief outings to keep the game from turning into a shootout.
Things Get Away From Tennessee In The Eighth Inning
Tennessee held a 5-4 lead entering the eighth inning with Snead starting to wear down. That’s when things got away from the flame throwing right-handed pitcher.
He hit the leadoff batter and allowed a one-out hit that put the leading run on base. Dylan Dreiling almost saved the day making a spectacular leaping catch at the wall for out number two. But Snead couldn’t get the final out as Alabama leadoff batter Gage Miller roped a middle-middle fastball for a no doubt home run to left field.
The home run gave Alabama a 7-5 lead which marked its first lead since the third inning. Tennessee loaded the bases thanks to Alabama defensive miscues in the ninth inning and pulled within one with a RBI walk but couldn’t get the big hit needed to tie the game or take the lead.
After taking the series opener, Tennessee couldn’t close out the weekend series on Saturday or in the closing innings on Sunday.
Final Stats
Up Next
Tennessee returns to Lindsey Nelson Stadium for a Tuesday night midweek matchup against Xavier. First pitch is at 6 p.m. ET.
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Alabama
Alabama kids celebrate their hometowns in statewide art contest highlighting value of homeownership
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Alabama
Death Row inmate Alan Eugene Miller: Prison too ‘incompetent’ to fit his gas mask
![Death Row inmate Alan Eugene Miller: Prison too ‘incompetent’ to fit his gas mask Death Row inmate Alan Eugene Miller: Prison too ‘incompetent’ to fit his gas mask](https://www.al.com/resizer/v2/BUOWEULXHVGUTGVITFAJB375CI.jpg?auth=da7447ec208774e0d966b234b2ea20e291c0d646b0ec252ccc66eb3e558dc2b8&width=1280&quality=90)
Alabama Death Row inmate Alan Eugene Miller said he has no intention of holding his breath or resisting his execution from nitrogen gas suffocation, but he’s worried the state will fail at securing his gas mask because they’re “incompetent.”
“I don’t think ya’ll know what you’re doing,” Miller, who would be only the second inmate in America to die by suffocating on nitrogen gas, told a state attorney during a deposition. “And these guys can’t even open a cell door sometimes. They’re keystone cops is basically what they are.”
The deposition was filed as part of an argument Miller’s lawyers made earlier this week. That filing also said the only training execution team members have for preparing an inmate for the procedure is from an Alabama Attorney General’s Office prosecutor.
Miller, 59, is set to die on Sept. 26 at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. The prison is the only facility in the state with an execution chamber and is where most death row inmates are housed.
In a Monday filing in federal court, Miller’s attorneys said Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office and its deputy, James Houts, are “responsible for training the execution team on how to carry out a nitrogen hypoxia execution.”
Miller said he’s open to having the gas mask fitted to his face prior to his September execution, but only if a doctor, medical professional or third party appointed by a federal judge does the fitting. That’s because he believes the prison workers are “incompetent” at mask fitting.
The execution, if carried out, will be the second using nitrogen in the country. The first was also in Alabama, when the state executed Kenneth Eugene Smith in January. That execution was widely criticized, after Smith convulsed for several minutes on the gurney.
State officials have argued that Smith held his breath at the beginning of his execution, delaying the nitrogen entering his body.
“The best explanation of the testimony is that Smith held his breath and lost consciousness when he breathed nitrogen gas—not that the mask did not fit or that the nitrogen was impure,” the Alabama Attorney General’s Office said in a filing earlier this month.
Miller “has no physiological explanation for how Smith could have suffered due to the State’s nitrogen hypoxia protocol,” it said.
But on Monday, Miller’s lawyers said the state doesn’t offer any proof for their claims. The state “hang(s) their hat exclusively on the self-serving testimony of a witness who claims to have remembered Mr. Smith’s oxygen levels nearly seven months after the execution.”
The execution team captain didn’t write down those oxygen levels, according to Miller’s lawyers, nor tell anyone about them on the night of the execution.
“In fact, evidence in the record suggest that the witness could not even see the levels from his position in the execution chamber, and the execution log from Mr. Smith’s execution… undercuts (the state’s) entire argument,” said the filing.
The captain’s deposition was also submitted in public court records.
That man said his responsibility was fitting Smith with his respirator mask for the execution. “I have not encountered any person for whom the mask did not fit securely and effectively,” he said.
During Smith’s execution, the captain said he watched the “readout for one of the pulse oximeters attached to Smith’s earlobe.”
“For a period of time that was longer than I had expected, I noticed that the pulse oximeter continued to read at a steady rate of 97%-98%. I did not notice whether Smith was breathing or holding his breath during this time.”
The captain said that Smith eventually released a deep breath, and then the pulse oximeter dropped “to the low 40s in a matter of seconds.” After 40 more seconds, he said, the reading dropped to 17%.
“This rapid drop in Smith’s pulse oximeter readings was what I had expected would happen when Smith began breathing nitrogen. After those breaths, Smith’s body did not move again,” he said.
Miller’s lawyers wrote that the captain has no medical or scientific training, and had received no training for fitting gas masks. In the heavily redacted filing, the lawyers wrote that he “has never read the (REDACTED) which provides instructions on the proper fit.”
Instead, the filing said, the captain learned how to prepare inmates from state Deputy Attorney General James Houts.
“Mr. Houts has admitted he is not an expert in nitrogen hypoxia protocols, but nevertheless believes he is qualified to (REDACTED) the State’s nitrogen hypoxia system because he is a ‘private pilot, a master scuba diver,’ and served in the military.”
The filing said Houts, too, has no medical or scientific training.
All notes from the state’s execution log that were included in the filing are redacted.
Miller believes, according to his deposition earlier this month, that the state’s gas mask won’t fit him. Various masks haven’t worked on his face before, Miller said, because he has a large head and face. He’s also unable to wear hats sold to prisoners because “they are too small for his head.”
“I’ve a big old head,” he said in the deposition.
According to his Alabama Department of Corrections inmate summary, Miller weighs 351 pounds.
Miller’s team also argued the state won’t use a mask with an inherent airtight seal or perform a negative pressure test on the mask. They also said the prison system should provide Miller, or anyone about to face a nitrogen execution, a sedative to “reduce the needless suffering that occurs during asphyxiation.”
Alabama
Infant deaths up across United States, Alabama above national average
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – For the first time in 20 years, more infants are dying in the United States.
A new report from the CDC shows infant mortality rates in the U.S. went up 3% in 2022.
“Infant mortality is a very good indicator of how we’re doing as a society with our healthcare, and so, the increase is always concerning whether that’s in Alabama or whether that’s nationwide,” said Dr. Wes Stubblefield with the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH).
ADPH says the infant mortality in the state is above the national average.
The national infant mortality rate was 5.6 deaths per thousand live births in 2022. In Alabama, ADPH says it was 6.7 deaths per thousand.
Birth defects and sudden infant death syndrome are major factors.
Stubblefield says there are also disparities in Alabama. More Black infants are dying.
“There’s a lot of reasons that go into that, some of it has to do with healthcare access,” the doctor said.
Of the 14 states that enacted near-total abortion bans in 2022, like Alabama, all but two states had a higher-than-average infant mortality rate that same year.
However, Alabama is seeing some improvement.
ADPH says infant mortality was lower in 2022 than the previous year and says it continues to work with the Governor’s Office and the State Legislature to secure funding.
“Home visiting programs, promoting safe sleep awareness through education, using screening to ensure that mothers who are identified that have substance abuse disorders are referred for treatment,” Stubblefield said.
County-by-county infant mortality rates from ADPH can be viewed here.
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