Crimson Tide Baseball Beats Back Arkansas 10-4
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
The Alabama Crimson Tide men's baseball team (29-21 overall, 14-12 SEC) put a 10-4 beat-down on the Arkansas Razorbacks by a score of 10-4 last night at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas. A two-run homer and five-RBI night from Bama's Will Haynie, as well as magnificent pitching from sophomore Jake Walters, spurred the on to victory.
Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard said, "The way we're playing right now is important. This is as good of baseball as we've played all year. I was proud of
the offense that we kept going. [Friday] night we had eight and kind of sat
on it, but [last night] we did a good job to keep adding to our lead and
ensuring that we got the win today."
Will Haynie finished the evening two-for-four with two home runs, one of which being a grand slam, a team-high five RBIs, two runs scored and one walk. Also blasting one out of the park was freshman Chandler Taylor who finished two-for-five with two RBIs and one run.
Alabama will be looking to sweep the Razorbacks today at 1 pm CT. The Tide will start right-hander Nick Eicholtz with Arkansas countering with freshman right-hander Blaine Knight. The game can be seen via SECN+.
-----------------------------------
Strong Finish For Tide At SEC Track & Field Championships
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
It was the best finish for both the Alabama Crimson Tide men's and women's track & field teams since back in 1989 and 2006, respectively. Plus the men's discus team went on to an historic medals sweep at the final day of the Southeastern Conference Track & Field Championships yesterday at the Sam Bailey Track & Field Complex.
The Tide men's team finished third with 88 points, its best finish
since finishing third in 1989. The women’s sixth place finish (67.25
points) this week is its best since finishing sixth in 2006. It was the Arkansas Razorbacks and Texas A&M Aggies finishing first and second in both the men’s and
women’s competitions this weekend.
Alabama track and field head coach Dan Waters said, "We had a great meet. Every athlete that put on an Alabama uniform this weekend
competed with great heart and great spirit. I could not be prouder of
this team. Whether they made a final, or not, scored a point, or not,
this is the kind of championship meet every coach wants to have."
Just after the competition, Daniel Haugh said, "I’m just in shock right now. It was a lot of fun out there competing with each other. This is what we wanted to do and were hoping to do. We all knew we could do something special."
Claire Orcel started things rolling for the Tide women with a second place finish in the high jump with a personal-best and Alabama season-best effort of 6-0 ½ (1.84m). Then it was the 4x100 relay team of Vanessa Clerveaux, Diamond Gause, Alex Gholston and Quanesha Burks rolling to a fourth-place finish in 43.70 to equal the third-fastest time in school history.
The Alabama men were also able to reach the podium in the 4x100 relay due to the excellent work of Jeremiah Green, Ahmed Ali, Tony Brown and Tadashi Pinder finishing third in a time of 39.04, the eighth-fastest time in school history. Green also finished third in the triple jump with a mark of 53-3 ¾ on his only clean jump of the day.
Alabama will compete in the NCAA East Regional in Jacksonville, Florida on May 26-28. Qualifiers for the regional will be announced tomorrow, May 16th. The top 48 in each event in the region will participate in the meet for an opportunity to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships scheduled for June 8-11 at the University of Oregon.
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
------------------------------------
Tide Men's Golf Begins 2016 NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional
Graphics/Photo Credit: RollTide.com
The 2016 NCAA Men's Golf Regional begins tomorrow in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and the Alabama Crimson Tide will be there for the three-day 54-hole regional being held at the par 72, 7,514-yard Ol' Colony Golf Complex.
It's the 12th consecutive appearance for the Crimson Tide in NCAA postseason competition, as well as the 25th appearance by Bama overall in the tournament.
The Crimson Tide has won four NCAA Regionals, and in fact, three consecutive before last year's 2015 Nobelsville Regional. It begain in 2009 with Alabama winning the NCAA Galloway (New Jersey) Regional. Next was the 2012 NCAA Athens (Georgia) Regional, followed by the 2013 NCAA Baton Rouge (Louisiana) Regional and the 2014 NCAA Auburn (Alabama) Regional. 2015 was the first time since 2010 that UA failed to reach the nationals.
Five Southeastern Conference schools will be featured in this year's 13-team regional. Third-ranked and No. 1 seed Georgia leads the SEC into the event, followed by No. 12 Auburn, the No. 2 seed, and then 14th-ranked and No. 3 seed South Carolina. Along with these top three are No. 5 UNLV, No. 6 Kentucky, No. 7 Kansas, No. 8 Charleston, No. 9 Lipscomb, No. 10 Charleston Southern, No. 11 Colorado, No. 12 Harvard and No. 14 Southern Illinois.
The top five teams from each of the six regional sites, as well as the top individual finisher not on an advancing team, will move on to the NCAA Men’s Golf National Championship being played in Eugene, Oregon May 27-June 1.
Alabama will be grouped with South Carolina and LSU in Friday's first round. Tee time is scheduled for 7:20 am CT. Admission to the event is free for the general public.
------------------------------------
Alabama Rowing Qualifies 3 Boats To Championship Finals
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
The Alabama Crimson Tide rowing team has qualified three boats to today's Grand Finals of the 2016 Big 12 Championships.
Alabama's First and Second Varsity 4+ along with its Third
Varsity 8+ all earned top-three finishes in their heats, placing them in Grand Final races today. Bama's 3V8+ placed second in
its heat and second overall in yesterday’s preliminary round with a time of 6:48.549, and was one of just four teams to finish in under seven
minutes. The 1V4+ finished second in its heat and third overall in
7:21.303. In the next race it was the 2V4+ with a time of
7:33.245.
Competing in the Petite Final races today will be the First and Second Varsity 8+ crews. They had fourth-place finishes on Saturday with times
of 6:47.365 and 6:59.655, respectively. In the final race of the day, the Crimson Tide placed second in an exhibition Third Varsity 4+ race against
Texas and Kansas with a time of 7:35.488.
------------------------------------
JUCO O.T. Elliot Baker To Visit Alabama
JUCO OT Elliot Baker
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
Baker is an offensive tackle out of City College of San Francisco and has Alabama as one of this schools of interest to which to transfer.
Baker told AL.com, "It's Alabama, they've won four out of the last seven championships and 17 first round picks (since 2009) or something insane.
Baker stands 6 feet 7 inches tall and weighs in at 300 pounds. He is listed by 247Sports as the nation's No. 1 junior college prospect.
He does, however, put Alabama in the same "sack" as several of other interests with the exception of the Georgia Bulldogs. Right now he says that is his current "leader". Right now he lists Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi State and Arizona State as his top five.
----------------------------
Bobby Williams To Represent Alabama At Satellite Camp
Bobby Williams-Special Asst. To Nick Saban
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
Bobby Williams, special assistant to Alabama head football coach Nick Saban, is expected to be the Alabama representative at the Sound Mind Body Football Academy's camp in Detroit, Michigan on June 9th and 10th.
Williams has a Michigan-connection, having previously served as head coach at Michigan State after Saban departed for the head coaching position at LSU. The Tide hasn't been very successful in their recruiting efforts in Michigan, with the exception of Mark Ingram out of Flint, Michigan who would later go on to become the first-ever Heisman Trophy winner for the Crimson Tide.
Though Saban has been an outspoken critic of satellite camps, he confirmed that Alabama would participate in them this summer. Despite Alabama's appearance at this and possibly other satellite camps, its preference will still be running its camps in Tuscaloosa.
Saban said, "We're still working on plans but we're going to really focus on continuing to get kids to come to our camps here. Our camps have always been about player development and doing a great job of teaching and have a great staff here."
