Early Offense, McNairy’s Strong Outing Lead Baseball to 8-3 Win over No. 19 LSU

Saturday, May 7

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

7:30 p.m.

Alabama

26-21, 10-13

LSU

31-15, 13-10

LSU

Alabama

Early Offense, McNairy’s Strong Outing Lead Baseball to 8-3 Win over No. 19 LSU

5/7/2022 11:42:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery Postgame Press Conference

The Tide scored seven runs through the first four frames to allow McNairy to settle in

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama baseball used early offense paired with a strong start from Jacob McNairy to get the 8-3 win over 19^th-ranked LSU on Saturday evening at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The Crimson Tide is now 26-21 overall and 10-13 in Southeastern Conference play.

LSU got ahead early with a solo home run in the first but was held off the board until the seventh. Alabama used that time to score a pair in the home half of the first before adding three in the second and two in the fourth for the 7-1 advantage. The Tigers added two in the seventh on another homer but an insurance run in the eighth for UA ensured the 8-3 win in game two.

McNairy (5-2) picked up his team-high fifth win of the season on graduation day. The senior was impressive against the high-powered Tiger offense, allowing just one run on four hits and three walks with a career-high tying seven strikeouts in his 5.2 innings of work. He handed the ball over to the duo of Jake Leger and Dylan Ray with the pair limiting LSU to two hits and two runs while combining for five strikeouts.

From Head Coach Brad Bohannon

"It was good to get a win; we needed one, obviously. LSU helped us out – they walked us eight times, threw a bunt away – and to our guys' credit, we took advantage of the mistakes they made. Jacob (McNairy) gave us a great start and Jake Leger did a good job to get us to Dylan Ray. We defended the field much better tonight and got enough production out of the lineup. It was good to get a win, and now we are in a position to win the series tomorrow over a really, really good LSU team."

How It Happened

T1 | Dylan Crews hit a solo home run to get the Tigers on the board. (1-0, LSU)
B1 | Jim Jarvis led off with a single and moved to second on a passed ball. The extra base was key as Andrew Pinckney brought him home in that same at-bat with an RBI-single up the middle. The Tide then loaded the bases with William Hamiter crossing the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly. (2-1, Alabama)
B2 | Caden Rose doubled to start the frame with Bryce Eblin drawing a walk to put two on for Jarvis. The Tide shortstop dropped down a sacrifice bunt, but an errant throw allowed him to reach with Rose scoring on the error. A wild pitch moved Jarvis to second with Pinckney drawing a walk on a ball-four wild pitch, scoring Eblin and moving Jarvis to third. A fielder's choice in the next at-bat from Drew Williamson brought in Jarvis to cap the scoring. (5-1, Alabama)
B4 | With two on, Hamiter doubled to right with the ball getting away from the LSU fielder to allow both runners to score. (7-1, Alabama)
T7 | Crews homered for the second time on the night, this one a two-run shot. (7-3, Alabama)
B8 | The Tide added an insurance run thanks to a two-out RBI-single from Williamson. (8-3, Alabama)

Postgame Notes

Four members of the 2022 team graduated on Saturday morning. The group included Landon Green, Jacob McNairy, Hunter Ruth and Drew Williamson. Former Tide players Morgan McCullough and Tyler Ras also earned their degrees.
McNairy struck out a career-high tying seven in tonight's start. He punched out seven on three previous occasions, most recently his start last Friday at South Carolina on April 29.
All nine Tide starters reached base safely in tonight's game.
Seven of the nine starters drew at least one walk on Saturday.
ATTENDANCE: 3,843

The rubber match between the Crimson Tide and Tigers is set for 1 p.m. CT on Sunday afternoon at The Joe. Alabama will send sophomore left-hander Grayson Hitt to the mound while the LSU starter is still to be announced. Fans can catch the series finale on SEC Network+.

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