Alabama Baseball Suffers 10-3 Loss to Samford on Wednesday

Alabama baseball fell, 10-3, to Samford on Wednesday afternoon at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. Following the midweek matchup, the Crimson Tide moves to 10-7 overall heading into Southeastern Conference play this weekend.

“Samford played a really good game,” said Alabama head coach Greg Goff. “We just needed to play a little earlier in the game and create a little more offense. I felt like our guys on the back-end kind of let the game slip away a little bit. I thought it was a closer game than what the score indicates. There are just some things that we’ve got to work through. It’s a learning process, and hopefully we’ll learn from this loss.”

The Tide allowed 10 runs on 13 hits and nine walks. Alabama starter Sam Finnerty (1-1) suffered his first loss of the season after allowing three earned runs on three hits and four walks. The Crimson Tide then turned it over to the bullpen, using a total of six pitchers to finish the Wednesday game.

The Bulldogs gained an early 1-0 advantage, plating a run in the top of the first. A leadoff walk followed by a single placed two runners on before a sacrifice bunt advanced both runners into scoring position. A sacrifice fly in the next at-bat brought across the game’s first run to put Samford in front, 1-0.

Samford struck for a pair of runs in the top of the third to widen the advantage and make it a 3-0 affair. The Bulldogs collected two one-out walks and a single to load the bases, before a sac fly scored the man from third. After a walk loaded the bases once again, another free pass brought in the second run of the inning to extend the Bulldog lead to 3-0.

Alabama narrowed the gap to 3-1 with one tally in the bottom of the fifth. Chandler Taylor singled to right and then advanced to second on a passed ball to put a man in scoring position with one down. One out later, Keith Holcombe lined an RBI-single to left to cross UA’s first run of the day.

The seventh saw Samford add a pair of runs, giving the Bulldogs the 5-1 advantage. The scoring sequence began with the leadoff man reaching on a single to left. One out later, a two-run home run that stretched over the wall in right pushed the Bulldogs ahead, 5-1, moving into the seventh inning stretch. The Tide answered with one run in the bottom of the eighth, loading the bases with a leadoff single and a pair of walks. A fielder’s choice from Cobie Vance scored one for the Tide to trim the deficit to 5-2.

In the top of the ninth, Samford crossed five runs on five hits to extend the lead to 10-2 and put the game out of reach. The Tide added one in the bottom of the ninth, using a one-out single and pair of walks to load the bases. A fielder’s choice from Connor Short allowed a run to cross to make it a 10-3 game, but Alabama came no closer as a 6-3 groundout ended the game.

Crimson Tide designated hitter Cody Henry finished 2-for-3 and added one run scored. With the effort, Henry extended his hitting streak to six games. Over that stretch, Henry is batting a team-high .526 (10-19), with a double, three home runs, five RBI, seven runs scored and three walks.

Alabama will open Southeastern Conference play this weekend with a three-game series at Sewell-Thomas Stadium against the Missouri Tigers. Friday’s opener is set for a 6:30 p.m. CT first pitch while the second game of the weekend on Saturday is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. CT. The series finale between the Crimson Tide and Tigers is slated to begin at noon C.T. Fans can catch all the action live on the SEC Network.