Baseball Falls, 6-5, to Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday Afternoon

Saturday, February 28

Hoover, Ala.

2:00 p.m

Alabama

7-3

Louisiana-Lafayette

5-5

Louisiana-Lafayette

Alabama

Baseball Falls, 6-5, to Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday Afternoon

2/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

Feb. 28, 2015

Box Score

HOOVER, Ala. - Alabama baseball fell to Louisiana-Lafayette, 6-5, on Saturday afternoon inside Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. With the loss, the Crimson Tide move to 7-3 overall.

With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Mikey White singled back through the middle and Casey Hughston followed up with a double it the next at-bat. An errant throw from the Louisiana-Lafayette right fielder rolled into no-man's land and gave White an opening to try to score the tying run, but the ULL third baseman retrieved the ball and was able to cut down White at the plate. Hughston moved to third on the throw, but an infield groundout ended the contest with ULL hanging on for the 6-5 win.

"We want to play aggressively, and that is exactly what Mikey did," said Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard. "Their third baseman had to make a play, and he was able to get the ball to the catcher in time. We preach that aggressive style of play, but Louisiana-Lafayette did a good job on the defensive end."

The two teams were near-even all game, with both squads finishing with 11 hits on the day, but Louisiana-Lafayette was able to claim the extra run for the victory.

The Ragin' Cajuns struck first in this afternoon's contest, scoring one in the second and two in the fourth to maintain a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth inning. Alabama would not sit by idly, and recorded a five-run bottom of the fifth to take the momentum and the lead away from ULL. The inning began with back-to-back hits, starting with a double by Wilhite that just nearly missed leaving the yard. Ryan Blanchard followed Wilhite with a single to put runners at first and third with no outs.

A sacrifice fly to center by Chance Vincent would start the scoring for Alabama, but it would not end after just one tally. Chandler Avant singled to center to advance Blanchard to second with only one out, and then a walk from Georgie Salem loaded the bases for UA.

With bases juiced, Mikey White delivered a double down the line past a diving third baseman to clear the bases and tie the score up at 4-4. Hughston matched him with a double of his own, and plated White to give Alabama the 5-3 advantage after five innings of play.

In the top of the seventh, ULL was able to collect four hits and plate three runs to go ahead 6-5, the eventual final. With the win, Louisiana-Lafayette head coach Tony Robichaux claimed his 1,000th career victory. The veteran skipper has accumulated his victories over 29 years as a head coach, with 737 of those wins coming at the helm of ULL program.

"It was a pretty solid baseball game," said Gaspard. "I thought both teams had a good approach today. Louisiana-Lafayette really took the fight to us, but I thought we responded well and kept battling. We just came up a little short this afternoon."

Alabama and Louisiana-Lafayette will face off tomorrow in a game to decide the series. First pitch of the rubber match is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT with Geoffrey Bramblett getting the start for the Crimson Tide and ULL countering with freshman left-hander Gunner Leger.

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ALABAMA POSTGAME NOTES

Georgie Salem's walk in his first at-bat of the afternoon put the center fielder on base for the 14th consecutive game. His streak now includes all 10 games this season and four contests at the end of last year. He is currently tied with his previous career-high, which came at the start of his Alabama career from Feb. 15 to March 19, 2013.
Salem stole a base in this afternoon's contest to move his season total to nine in nine attempts across the Crimson Tide's 10 total games. He has now matched his career high for stolen bases in a season, which he set during his freshman year across 63 total games.
Salem's hitting streak of seven games came to an end this afternoon. Across the streak, the junior batted .346 (9-26) with two doubles, four walks, an RBI, eight runs scored and registered six of his nine stolen bases during that time.
Kyle Overstreet's hitting streak came to an end at 13 games. The streak, which ran from June 1, 2013 until Feb. 27, 2015, was the longest of Overstreet's career. During that time, the second baseman batted .340 (18-53) with three doubles, one triple, three walks, 14 RBI and six runs scored.
Casey Hughston recorded three doubles in this evening's contest, the first game of his career in which he has recorded three extra-base hits. The three doubles also mark the first time a UA player has accomplished the feat since Alex Avila did it vs. Vanderbilt on April 22, 2006.
Hughston has now collected eight multi-hit efforts in 10 games, while adding at least one extra-base hit in eight games, as well. He has also recorded one or more RBI in eight games during 2015.
With his double to lead off the fifth inning, J.C. Wilhite has now recorded a hit in six straight games. The senior is batting .409 (9-22) with three doubles, a home run, four RBI and three runs scored over that time.
Will Haynie gunned down three runners attempting to steal on the evening.
The Crimson Tide fell for the first time in a day game this season (5-1 overall).