Bama Baseball Blanked 4-0 By Razorbacks; Sheridan, 5Dimes.com Pick The Tide To Win SEC This Season; Tide Softball Roasts The Hogs 9-1

    The 23rd ranked Arkansas Razorbacks completed a three-game sweep of the Crimson Tide today by a score of 4-0. It was the third time this season that Alabama has been shut out. Bama now falls 23-24 overall, and 8-16 in the SEC.

     The one shining light in the game was sophomore starting pitcher Geoffrey Bramblett, keeping the Tide within reach if only the bats got it together. Pitching seven innings, Bramblett allowed only six hits producing just three runs in the contest. Of his 106 pitches he dished out six strikeouts.

     Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard said, "Geoffrey did what Geoffrey does: He gave us an opportunity to win. Sunday is the day you have to score some runs if you're going to win. It seems like he's had the same outing each time, give you about seven good innings, allow a couple runs, but when you get that kind of start you have to do your job on the offensive end."

Arkansas' starter Keaton McKinney countered Bramblett's solid outing, tossing a complete game to hand Alabama its first complete game shutout loss since May 10, 2014, when LSU starter Aaron Nola accomplished the same feat.
The Razorbacks put together the game's first run in the top of the third, using two walks and then a single to right-center to take the 1-0 lead. Arkansas would use a lead off home run in the sixth to add one more and move the lead to 2-0.

     The Crimson Tide next faces Alabama A&M this Tuesday, closing out their six game home stand. The double-header was originally scheduled for March 10, but the rain forced the postponement. leads the series with A&M 3-0. The Crimson Tide previously swept the Bulldogs in the three-game match-up from March 17-18, 2009.

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Football

     According to BleacherReport, another prognosticator has stepped forward with selecting Alabama as the odds-on favorite to win the SEC this coming season. Of course it's gotten to where choosing the Crimson Tide to win the Southeastern Conference isn't exactly like standing on a cliff during an earthquake.

     5Dimes.com had already selected Bama as a 3-to-1 favorite to win the SEC, with Auburn coming in second.

     The latest to toss Bama into the winner's circle is Danny Sheridan. According to Michael Casagrande, Sheridan provided his choice to al.com recently, giving the Tide 8-to-1 odds to take the SEC crown. He, too, selected Auburn second at 12-to-1.

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Softball

      The Alabama Crimson Tide softball team batted their way to another big win last night. The latest to fall victim to the Bama bats were the Arkansas Razorbacks. The Tide roasted the Hogs 9-1 in the series opener on the road at Bogle Park.

     The bats were clinking throughout the night for Bama (39-11, 15-7 SEC) as they would get 10 hits from six different batters to pummel Arkansas. Junior Kallie Case swung the big bat for Bama with a season high three hits in her four at-bats. She was able to score after each one of those hits also.

     Other notable performances came from Alexis Osorio (16-7) who took the win after pitching just over five innings getting eight strikeouts. Leona Lafaele stepped up big in driving in a career-high five RBIs. A huge three-run out of the park shot was the highlight of her night.

     Game two of three game series is Saturday night at 8 PM CDT and can be seen live on ESPNU.