Alabama Baseball Comes Up Short on Sunday at 15th-Ranked Florida, 6-3

Alabama baseball scored two runs late but was unable to complete the comeback in a 6-3 loss at No. 15 Florida on Sunday afternoon at McKethan Stadium. The Crimson Tide is now 20-9 on the season and 2-7 in Southeastern Conference play.

The Tide jumped out front early with one in the second but was countered in the home half by a pair of Florida runs. The Gators added two more in both the fourth and the eighth to take a 6-1 lead. A two-out walk for junior Brett Auerbach in the ninth put one on for pinch-hitter T.J. Reeves. The freshman homered to straightaway center to narrow the gap to 6-3 and give the Tide life, but a groundout ended things in favor of Florida.

Reliever Hunter Ruth (1-0) earned the win for Florida with 7.2 innings of relief. Ruth allowed one run on four hits with a walk while striking out five. Alabama freshman starter Tyler Ras (1-2) suffered the loss.

Alabama struck first on Sunday, scoring one in the top of the second. A leadoff single from Drew Williamson followed by a walk put the freshman in scoring position before a sacrifice bunt moved him 90 feet away. An infield groundout in the next at-bat led to a rundown at both second and third, but an errant throw by the Florida first baseman went over the catcher and to the backstop, crossing Williamson to give UA a 1-0 lead.

Florida answered with two in the bottom of the second to take its first lead of the day at 2-1. In the fourth, the Gators used a two-run home run to double their tally for a three-run lead of 4-1 through four full. The scoring stalled until the bottom of the eighth, when Florida added two more for a 6-1 advantage.

In the ninth, the Crimson Tide got a two-out walk from Auerbach and pinch-hit Reeves in the next at-bat. Reeves sent an 0-1 pitch to center to cut the lead to three, but the Tide was unable to come any closer as a groundout ended the Sunday game.

Alabama will now return home for a four-game stretch at Sewell-Thomas Stadium starting on Tuesday, April 2. The Crimson Tide will play host to the Troy Trojans for a 6 p.m. CT matchup in Tuscaloosa. The midweek matchup can be seen live on SEC Network+.

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