Walters' Standout Start Leads Alabama Past Samford, 8-6

Tuesday, March 17

Hoover, Ala.

6:30 p.m

Alabama

12-7

Samford

6-11

Samford

Alabama

Walters' Standout Start Leads Alabama Past Samford, 8-6

3/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 17, 2015

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HOOVER, Ala. - Freshman Jake Walters earned his first career start and excelled in the role, tossing 5.0 innings and striking out a season-high nine batters to lead Alabama baseball to the 8-6 win over Samford on Tuesday evening inside Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. With the victory, Alabama improves to 12-7 on the season.

"I thought Jake did a great job, and he had five really clean innings and piled up the strikeouts early," said Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard. "Samford is a good offensive team and has been for a long time, so it was good to get the win tonight."

Walters got off on a tear, recording five of his first six out by way of the strikeout. Making his first career start for the Crimson Tide, the freshman right-hander surrendered just two hits over 5.0 scoreless innings, racking up nine strikeouts against just two walks.

"I was very confident that Walters would pitch well tonight," said Gaspard. "He has been solid every time out, and that continued today. That performance was good for him, and I think it gave him a lot of confidence moving forward."

The offense provided support to Walters, contributing eight runs on the power of 13 total hits, including three extra-base knocks. Casey Hughston got it started for the Tide in the bottom of the second, registering his team-leading fourth home run of the season off Samford starter Tristan Widra.

Shortstop Mikey White broke the game open in the bottom fifth, emptying the bases with a three-run triple to push the Tide's lead to 4-0. Hughston followed with an RBI-single to left, ahead of Chance Vincent's RBI-knock to cap the Tide's five-run inning.

Samford answered the Alabama's big inning in its next trip to the plate, tacking on four runs in the top half of the sixth. The Bulldogs got a pair of runs off back-to-back triples, before a wild pitch and an RBI-double inched the score to within two runs at 6-4.

White tacked on another run in the bottom of the sixth, his fourth RBI of the game, scoring Chandler Avant who singled earlier in the frame.

White finished the night 3-for-4, collecting a team-high four RBI and two runs scored. Hughston finished 3-for-4, with a pair of RBI and two runs scored. Avant turned in the Tide's third three-hit effort, going 3-for-5 with a double and two runs scored.

Following tonight's game, No. 5 Texas A&M will travel to The Met for a three-game weekend series to begin the home SEC slate for Alabama. The Tide and Aggies are scheduled for a 7 p.m. first pitch on Friday, with Saturday set for 3 p.m. and Sunday's finale starting at 1 p.m. CT.

Get all the latest information on the team by following AlabamaBSB on Twitter and Instagram and on Facebook at Alabama Baseball. General athletic news can be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and AlabamaAthletics on Facebook.

ALABAMA POSTGAME NOTES

Freshman Jake Walters made his first career start.
Walters fanned nine batters across his 5.0 IP. That total is the most for his young career, and is the highest strikeout total by a Crimson Tide starter this season.
Thomas Burrows earned his fourth save of the season and has converted on all four chances thus far.
The Tide recorded three more stolen bases and is now 29-of-34 on the season.
Casey Hughston recorded three hits to extend his consecutive games reaching base streak to all 19 contests this season.
Mikey White finished the day 3-for-4 with a season-high four RBI and has now recorded at least one RBI in 10 of his last 13 games, including multi-RBI efforts in five of those contests.
Over the last 14 games, White is batting .460 (23-50) with seven doubles, four of his five total triples, two home runs, 19 RBI, 18 runs scored, seven walks, a HBP and two stolen bases.
Colburn finished the night 1-for-4 with a run scored to extend his hitting streak to six games. Over that time, he is batting .348 (8-23) with a double, six RBI, three runs scored, two walks and a stolen base.
Since earning his first career start last Friday, March 6, Colburn has batted .333 (8-24) with one double, six RBI, four runs scored, three walks, a stolen base and two HBP.
With his 3-for-5 night, Chandler Avant has now hit safely in his last six contests. Over those six games, the freshman is batting .346 (9-26) with two RBI, four runs scored, two HBP and three of his four total stolen bases.