Alabama Baseball Defeats UAB 4-1
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
Crimson Tide head baseball coach Greg Goff said, "It feels good to get the win tonight, especially on the road over a good UAB club. I've got so much respect for coach (Brian) Shoop and their coaching staff, but I'm glad we could get the win. I was really impressed with the poise our guys showed on the mound tonight, and our bats added some really timely hitting."
Bama's three pitchers did their job in the victory. In his first career start, Medders threw 4.0 innings of scoreless baseball, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out a total of three batters with 53 pitches. Rukes (2-1) followed that up for 3.1 scoreless innings of relief to earn his second win of the season, allowing just two hits while striking out two batters Vainer took over for the Tide. before handing it over to Vainer. Alabama's closer picked up his third save of the season allowing one unearned run, one hit and striking out three in 1.2 innings.
Gene Wood led the Crimson Tide offense going 3-for-3 on the night, including one walk, an RBI and one run scored. Another Hunter Alexander finished the evening two-for-four with a double and a team-leading two RBIs. It was Connor Short extending his hitting streak, going one-for-three, picked up his second home run of the season, and added one RBI and one run scored.
Alabama will now head to Columbia, South Carolina for a Southeastern Conference three-game series with the South Carolina Gamecocks. First game will be at 6 p.m. CT on Friday, followed by the second game on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT and then the finale on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. CT.
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Tide Men's Swimming & Diving To Open
NCAA Championships Today
University of Alabama swimming & diving head coach Dennis Pursley said, "We're excited to get things started. We've been on a steady progression on the men's side the last couple of years and we'd like to see that continue."
The Crimson Tide will field 10 swimmers for the championship, and will compete in five relays and a number of individual events over the four-day competition that will be held in the IUPUI Natatorium in Indianapolis this week.
Competing in the 800 freestyle relay this evening will be Bama's All-American foursome consisting of senior Alex Gray, juniors Christopher Reid and Matthew Adams and sophomore Robert Howard. Gray, Reid and Adams swam on the 800 relay at last year's NCAAs, earning Honorable Mention All-America honors after taking 16th place in the event.
Alabama will have six swimmers in individual races at this year's championships, led by three-time SEC 100 backstroke champion Connor Oslin. Oslin finished second in the 100 backstroke at last year's NCAA championships. Two-time SEC 200 breaststroke champion Anton McKee will also be one of the six. Both men are making their fourth appearance at the national championships and both come into the week as three-year All-Americans.
Oslin commented, "My goals for this meet are to go as fast as I can and to score as many points as I can for my team. It's the fastest short-course (yards) meet in the world, pretty much. It's always fun to go there and see where you stack up against the best competition in the world."
Also participating are All-Americans Laurent Bams, Luke Kaliszak (with Reid) Reid are making return visits to the championships. Freshman Zane Waddell will be making his NCAA debut this week. Senior Pavel Romanov will join Gray, Adams and Howard for relay duty this week.
The meet will enter it's full preliminaries and finals schedule Thursday-Saturday. The prelims will begin at 9 a.m. CT each day, followed by the finals at 5 p.m. CT.
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Alabama Football Holds First Spring Practice
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
Running backs Bo Scarbrough and B.J. Emmons were on the field, but instead of regular practice jerseys both donned the black non-contact jerseys. Scarbrough is back after breaking his leg approximately two-and-a-half months ago in the championship game against Clemson. He was doing some of the drills but watching others off to the side. Emmons season came to a close when he received a foot injury back in November.
Also on the field yesterday was reserve offensive lineman Josh Casher, returning after after breaking his foot late in the Southeastern Conference Championship.
A total of 16 early-enrollees will participate with the returning players. Those joining the Tide this spring are OL Elliot Baker, DL Isaiah Buggs, LS Thomas Fletcher, RB Najee Harris, WR Jerry Jeudy, OL Alex Leatherwood, DB Kyriq McDonald, LB Dylan Moses, WR Tyrell Shavers, QB Tua Tagovailoa, TE Major Tennison, QB Mac Jones, DB Xavier McKinney, RB Brian Robinson Jr., DB Daniel Wright and RB Chadarius Townsend.
Not only did UA field the freshman-newbies, but the Tide also had three new coaches take the field for the first time for Alabama football, including offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brian Daboll, special teams coordinator and tight ends coach Joe Pannunzio and co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Mike Locksley.
A total of 13 starters return for Bama football this coming season, including six on offense, six on defense as well as All-American punter JK Scott. Return offensively are sophomore quarterback Jalen Hurts, as well as three offensive linemen, Bradley Bozeman, Ross Pierschbacher and Jonah Williams along with junior wide receiver Calvin Ridley. Returning to the defense are junior Da'Ron Payne on the line, while Shaun Dion Hamilton will lead the linebackers. Four starters will return from the Crimson Tide secondary, namely Minkah Fitzpatrick, Anthony Averett, Ronnie Harrison and Tony Brown.
The remainder of this week's practices are scheduled for Thursday, March 23re and Saturday, March 25th.
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
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Nick Saban Press Conference
Following 1st Spring Practice Session
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| Click HERE to view Saban press conference |
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John Petty Is Gatorade Player Of The Year
For Second Consecutive Year
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| UA Basketball Signee John Petty Photo Credit: 247Sports |
University of Alabama Crimson Tide basketball signee John Petty out of Class 5A Champion Jemison High School has been named the Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Alabama for the second consecutive year. The award is given each year to the nation's most elite high school student-athletes in each state for their athletic excellence, academic achievement and exemplary character.
Petty averaged 21.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, 5.6 assists and two steals per game, all while helping Jemison capture the state of Alabama Class 5A state championship. He was recently named first team All-State by the ASWA, and is once again in the running for the Class 5A Player of the Year as well as Mr. Basketball.
According to the 247Sports Composite, Petty is the the No. 5 shooting guard and No. 30 overall player in the country. He committed, then signed his national letter of intent with Alabama last November.
Petty averaged 21.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, 5.6 assists and two steals per game, all while helping Jemison capture the state of Alabama Class 5A state championship. He was recently named first team All-State by the ASWA, and is once again in the running for the Class 5A Player of the Year as well as Mr. Basketball.
According to the 247Sports Composite, Petty is the the No. 5 shooting guard and No. 30 overall player in the country. He committed, then signed his national letter of intent with Alabama last November.
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Former UA Receiver Antonio Carter
Files Lawsuit Against Lane Kiffin & State Of Florida
According to a report from SEC Country, former Alabama Crimson Tide receiver Antonio Carter has filed a lawsuit against former University of Alabama offensive coordinator and current FAU head coach Lane Kiffin and the state of Florida. In the suit, Carter alleges that Kiffin led him to believe that he was in line for a job on the FAU football staff as an assistant strength and conditioning coach, but then later informed Carter he was disqualified from consideration for the position after offering a scholarship to a recruit whom Carter had helped Kiffin obtain.
According to SEC Country:
However, after believing he had been hired and the prospect accepted a scholarship with the Owls, Carter was notified by school officials that he didn’t pass the required background check and would not be employed “due to two prior minor misdemeanor criminal charges.”
Carter claims in the lawsuit that he sent documentation showing the resolution of the charges, one of which the prosecutor refused to pursue more than seven years ago, but FAU didn’t respond and numerous other inquiries went unanswered. That included waiting for hours outside of Patrick Chun’s office only to have the FAU athletic director refuse to meet with him.
Also, according to SEC Country, the lawsuit also alleges that Kiffin told Carter his hire was a "done" deal, and supposedly was so "done" that Carter even assisted FAU on signing day.
USA Today is reporting that court records are indicating four arrests, rather than two, for Carter and that he "took pleas in each case and avoided jail time. Two were concerning drug paraphernalia, with one being possession and the other failure to appear on a drug charge. The other two dealt with operating a motor vehicle with a suspended or revoked license in 2014, with one of those by the Florida Highway Patrol and the other by Florida State University police.
The aforementioned recruit whom Carter says he "believed" he was used in recruiting is not mentioned directly in suit, but SEC Country strongly believes him to be D'Anfernee McGriff who played at Iowa Western Community College in 2016. He did, in fact, sign with FAU on National Signing Day.
Among the schools for which Carter has previously held coaching are Appalachian State, Eastern Michigan and Samford.
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Former Ole Miss Co-Offensive Coordinator
Reportedly Being Hired As Football Offensive Analyst
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| Dan Werner Photo Credit: GridironNow.com |
According to a report from Fox Sports, University of Alabama head football coach Nick Saban is hiring former Ole Miss Co-offensive Coordinator Dan Werner as an offensive analyst. He will join Chris Weinke, hired during the winter, giving the Crimson Tide two offensive analysts for the second consecutive year.
Werner was dismissed by Ole Miss after having served for five years as the Rebel's co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Not only has he worked for Ole Miss in the Southeastern Conference, but he was once with the Auburn Tigers. Werner served as offensive consultant on the Plains in 1999. He has also served on the Miami Hurricanes football staff.
