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Alabama falls to Southern Miss in gritty elimination game
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Alabama entered the Hattiesburg Regional hoping to make some noise in the NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately, the Crimson Tide are headed home quickly, losing consecutive games to get eliminated.
After falling to Miami in a hard-fought game on Friday, it was much of the same in Saturday’s elimination game vs. Southern Miss. The regional host was stunned by Columbia, but Southern Miss came back fighting with their backs against the wall.
Across the 3rd and 4th innings, both teams scored 3 runs, and that’s where things stood until the 7th inning. Both starting pitchers were largely impressive in this one to keep the game close until the late innings, and it looked like Alabama might come away with the clutch hits to get the win.
In the top of the 7th, it was Bryce Fowler who sent a jolt through the Crimson Tide with a tie-breaking, 2-run home run. It was Alabama’s 3rd home run of the game and gave the Tide a 5-3 lead entering the 8th inning.
However, things slowly unraveled for the Alabama bullpen in the bottom of the 8th inning. With the score at 5-4, Southern Miss loaded the bases with 2 outs, and Tucker Stockman drove in 2 to put the Golden Eagles back on top.
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Alabama would load the bases with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, but a groundout ended the game and the season for the Tide. Rob Vaughn has now failed to lead Alabama out of the regional round in his first 2 seasons at the helm.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
