Alabama made sure another day of high-powered offense in Columbia would nail down something the Crimson Tide baseball program hasn’t done in a very long time.
One day after Friday’s 8-3 victory over South Carolina in the series opener, Alabama did a little better than that, outlasting the Gamecocks, 9-6, on Saturday afternoon to seal the Tide’s first series victory in Columbia since 2006.
The 19th-ranked Crimson Tide improved to 34-17 overall and 15-11 in the SEC, with the conference tournament fast approaching. Meanwhile, South Carolina continued to struggle this season, falling to 22-29 overall and 7-19 in the SEC.
For a while though, it looked like it might be the Gamecocks’ day. South Carolina carried a 4-1 lead into the fourth inning, but the narrative of Game 2 of the 3-game weekend series quickly changed. After scoring 3 runs in the top of the fourth to tie the game at 4-4, the Tide grabbed a 7-4 lead with 1 swing of the bat in the fifth.
It came courtesy of senior catcher John Lemm, who smoked a 3-2 pitch over the right-field fence with runners on first and second and nobody out. Just like that, it was 7-4 Alabama, and the Tide had surely turned in this Saturday SEC battle.
The Crimson Tide tacked on 2 runs in the sixth inning to make it 9-4, with Will Plattner’s 2-run homer to left field giving Bama more than enough cushion to hold off a Gamecocks rally that trimmed the final margin to 3 runs.
Zane Adams tossed 6 innings for the Tide, striking out 9, before giving way to relivers Matthew Heiberger and Hagan Banks.
Alabama will go for the weekend sweep on Sunday afternoon, with the series — and a little bit of Crimson Tide baseball history — already secured after Saturday’s win.
The Crimson Tide are trying to finish off a stellar regular season, but soon they’ll be immersed in the SEC Tournament with an eye on trying to get to Omaha in June. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about the top teams and their chances to be playing for everything next month:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
