Ninth-Inning Rally Comes Up Short in Baseball’s 8-6 Loss at Top-Ranked LSU

Friday, April 28

Baton Rouge, La.

6 p.m.

Alabama

30-13, 9-10

LSU

33-8, 13-5

Alabama

LSU

Ninth-Inning Rally Comes Up Short in Baseball’s 8-6 Loss at Top-Ranked LSU

4/28/2023 10:00:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

The Tide had the winning run at the plate in the ninth, but a strikeout ended the ballgame

BATON ROUGE, La. – Alabama baseball battled in the ninth but came up short in an 8-6 loss to top-ranked LSU on Friday night at Alex Box Stadium. The Crimson Tide is now 30-13 overall and 9-10 in Southeastern Conference play.

Alabama trailed 8-1 headed to the ninth but continued to battle until the final out. The Tide used two walks and a two-out double from Tommy Seidl to add the first run. Andrew Pinckney followed with a two-run single before a single from Drew Williamson put runners on the corners and forced an LSU pitching change. The new Tiger arm immediately gave up a single to Dominic Tamez that scored Pinckney and made it a two-run affair. Colby Shelton was next, battling across a six-pitch at-bat but a strikeout ended things at 8-6.

Pinckney led the offense with a perfect 5-for-5 night that included a double, one home run, three RBI and three runs scored. Tamez added two RBI as part of a 2-for-5 showing.

Hagan Banks (1-1) suffered the loss. Making the start on short notice after a late scratch of Luke Holman, Banks tossed 3.0 innings and allowed four runs on three hits and a walk with three strikeouts. The win went to LSU starter Paul Skenes (8-1), who allowed one run on five hits with nine strikeouts across 6.0 frames.

From Head Coach Brad Bohannon

"Hagan Banks did a good job, especially for finding out an hour before the game that he was going to start. He went out and competed for 3.0 innings. Kade Woods then did a great job of getting us to the middle of the game and having us within striking distance. We obviously didn't pitch well enough out of the bullpen at the end. If we pitch a lot better from the sixth inning on, it's a different ballgame."

How It Happened

B2 | Tommy White recorded a solo home run. (1-0, LSU)
B3 | With two on and two down, Dylan Crews sent a line drive over the wall in right for a three-run shot. (4-0, LSU)
T4 | Andrew Pinckney led off the inning with a solo home run. (4-1, LSU)
B6 | The Tigers loaded the bases with two down before a hit-by-pitch and back-to-back walks pushed across three runs. (7-1, LSU)
B7 | A one-out sacrifice bunt with the bases loaded added to the LSU advantage. (8-1, LSU)
T8 | Pinckney doubled with one down before moving to third on a groundout. He would score in the next at-bat on an RBI-single from Dominic Tamez. (8-2, LSU)
T9 | One-out walks to Will Portera and Ed Johnson put two aboard. After a second out was recorded, Tommy Seidl doubled to right to score Portera and move Johnson to third. Pinckney followed with a two-run single for his fifth hit of the game before a Drew Williamson single placed runners on the corners. After an LSU pitching change, Tamez singled up the middle to add one more. (8-6, LSU)

Postgame Notes

The Crimson Tide finished with 12 hits and has totaled double-digit hits in 27 games, including eight SEC pairings.
Alabama has hit a home run in 34 of 43 games this season.
Andrew Pinckney finished with a career-high five hits in tonight's game. His previous high was four against Richmond on Feb. 17 of this season.
His five hits also tied the Alabama single-game record for hits. His five-hit performance is the first for UA since Brett Auerbach (5-for-5) did so against Northern Kentucky on March 8, 2019.
Pinckney has now homered in five of his last six games after recording four across his first 37 contests on the season.
Dominic Tamez extended his hitting streak to nine games. Over that stretch, the junior is batting .429 (15-35) with four doubles, a triple, one home run, five RBI, six runs and four walks.
Tommy Seidl has gotten aboard in 18 straight games dating back to March 28.
Seidl has also recorded a hit in six straight games dating back to April 18.

Alabama will look to even up the series on Saturday at 6 p.m. CT. The Crimson Tide will call on senior right-hander Garrett McMillan for the start while the Tigers counter with junior righty Ty Floyd. Fans can catch game two of the weekend on SEC Network+.

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