Crimson Tide Rips Rebels 6-1 In SEC Baseball Tournament; Center Ryan Kelly Named to Rimington Trophy 2015 Watch List; Jansen And Routliffe In NCAA Tennis Championships

Photo Credit: rolltide.com

     It was an exciting game for an Alabama sports fan. The boys were clicking, were gelling. 

     Perhaps Bama got that "tune-up" that seemed to be needed because of the sputtering in the engine at times during the season. Perhaps that one little thing that was needed to smooth things out to take advantage of the horsepower already in the engine. Regardless, the engine was smoothing out

     When the defense was on, the offense was off. When the pitching was working there were errors on the field or the defense wasn't on. But it started coming together.

     A sweep of in-state rival Auburn showed it could could all come together.

      On Tuesday, in the 2015 SEC Baseball Tournament, both the offense and defense came together for a complete game. Was Ole Miss off? Perhaps, but it was a given that Bama was on.

     Sophomore Geoffrey Bramblett pitched 11-seed Alabama to a 6-1 victory over Ole Miss in the opening round of the tournament.  This was his second complete game in postseason play, and went the distance again. Yes, the Rebels did get a season-high nine hits off him, but Bramblett also issued a career-high 10 strikeouts and allowed no free passes in a must-win game for Bama.

     "I thought Geoffrey did a tremendous job," stated Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard. "For game one, I don't think we could have asked for a whole lot more."

     Not only was the pitching on, but the bats were connecting when needed. Bama bats connected on 11 total hits, with nine of those hits coming with two outs. Three Alabama batters had a multi-hit game. They were Casey Hughston, Mikey White and J.C. Wilhite. By the end of the game Hughston hit a double and picked up  two RBIs.

     Gaspard continued, "We had a lot of our key hitters have a nice day today, and we were able to get them off to a good start in the tournament. We've played pretty good baseball for two and a half weeks, which is encouraging. We got off to a really good start today, and we will prepare for Texas A&M in the morning."

     Alabama now advances to the double-elimination portion of the tournament. The Crimson Tide meets the third-seed Texas A&M Aggies this morning at 9:30 AM CDT at the Hoover Met. The game can be seen on the SEC Network.

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Football

     According to 247Sports.com, University of Alabama senior center Ryan Kelly has been named to the Rimington Trophy's 2015 Watch List. The award is given annually to the nation's top center. Kelly was also on the 2014 and 2013 watch lists.

     In the announcement that came Tuesday, Kelly was one of 52 individuals from Division I schools across the country to make the prestigious list. Eight centers from the Southeastern Conference made the list.

     As a junior Kelly started 12 games for the Crimson Tide last season. He also started nine games for Bama in 2013 as a sophomore.

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Women's Tennis

     The 2015 NCAA Doubles Championship begins tomorrow at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco Texas, with Maya Jansen and Erin Routliffe topping the field of 32 pairings as the No. 1 seed. The two are hoping to capture the NCAA doubles crown. It should be noted that Routliffe also received an at-large selection into the NCAA Championship scheduled to begin this morning at 9 AM CDT.

     Alabama head coach Jenny Mainz said, "I'm encouraged with Maya and Erin leading into the National Championships as the top seed in the doubles draw. They have earned this seeding with their almost impeccable record. They continue to improve as a team and complement one another very well on the court. The exciting part is that I feel they can keep getting better."

     Jansen and Routliffe led Bama for the entire 2014-15 season, ending the dual match season with a commanding 19-2 (9-1 SEC) record and ranked at the top of the ITA Division I Doubles Rankings. This dynamic duo defeated three Top 10 teams during the season and carried a perfect 15-0 record into week nine of the conference season.

Jansen and Routliffe will meet Texas-Arlington's Angeles de los Rios and Elizabeth Thoms on Thursday morning at 10 AM CDT.

     Routliffe now becomes the 17th NCAA singles qualifier in the history of the Alabama women's tennis program. Jansen was selected as the eighth alternate in the NCAA Singles Championship.

"I'm pleased that Erin will get the opportunity to play in the NCAA Singles Competition as I feel she has the game, confidence and mindset to continue elevating her play," Mainz said.

     Routliffe faces Duke's Ester Goldfeld in the opening round of 64 this morning at 9 AM CDT.