No. 12 Alabama Baseball Upsets No. 1 Tennessee To Open SEC Series

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The No. 12 Crimson Tide baseball team (22-1, 4-0 SEC) handed the No. 1 Tennessee Volunteers its second loss of the season in a 6-5 thriller to open the Southeastern Conference series Thursday at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.

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Crimson Tide lefty Zane Adams got the start on the mound to open the series and entered the game with 3-0 mark and a flat 3.00 ERA. He would go on to earn his fourth win of the season in a highly anticipated matchup of aces when he was penciled in to face off against Tennessee ace Liam Doyle — a hard-throwing lefty projected to be a high pick in the upcoming MLB Draft.

Alabama looked shaky in the early goings, with Tennessee first baseman Andrew Fischer getting the Volunteers on the board first by way of a 425-foot two-run homer off Adams with two outs in the game's opening frame.

Doyle then made easy work of the Crimson Tide in the first, stranding a runner and striking out two.

The Volunteers went on to pad the lead to 3-0 in the top of the 2nd inning when a runner scored on an error from third.

The Crimson Tide answered, though, with hot-hitting first baseman Will Hodo roping a single, before second baseman Brennen Norton reached after being hit by a pitch.

Captain and left fielder Kade Snell loaded the bases on an error by the UT second baseman before Doyle got in a jam and walked in two runs.

Tide shortstop Justin Lebron then drove his nation-leading RBI total to 48 with a 3-RBI double to the gap in left-center to clear the bases after being walked loaded by Doyle.

After allowing runs in the first two innings, Adams settled in for a scoreless and efficient 3rd inning.

The Tide offense kept coming in the bottom of the 3rd when Plattner doubled to put Alabama runners on second and third, resulting in Richie Bonomolo Jr. knocking in a run on a fielder's choice to put Alabama up 6-3.

Snell and Plattner each finished two hits.

On the defensive side, right fielder Bryce Fowler came up big in the field once again, robbing a sure home run by Reese Chapman in the top of the sixth to deny the Volunteers a chance at closing the gap.

Zane Adams would go on to toss 3.1 scoreless innings after giving up runs in the first two, and looked very much like the Crimson Tide ace as he went on to throw 6.1 innings — logging six strikeouts while giving up two earned runs on six hits.

Matthew Heiberger came on in relief for Alabama with two runners on but quickly saw the bases loaded after mishandling what looked to be a routine ground ball.

Heiberger then took a hard-hit ground ball off the foot for an infield single for Tennessee that got a run across to make it 6-4 in the top of the 7th. This was followed by a Volunteers sacrifice fly to close Alabama's lead to just a run before Heiberger slammed the door on the top half of the inning.

Heiberger did get into another jam in the top of the 8th with two runners on, but Justin Lebron's quick thinking on a line drive in the infielder resulted in a double play to take some of the heat off of the reliever.

Tide closer Carson Ozmer was then brought on in relief for Heiberger with two outs and struck out the lone batter he faced to send it to the bottom of the 8th.

A highlight of the ninth inning came when Tide catcher Will Plattner threw out Tennessee's Jay Abernathy on a steal attempt for the second out of the game.

Ozmer went on to secure his sixth save of the season, surrendering only one hit, as Alabama took the opening game over the defending national champions.

The Crimson Tide and Volunteers will face off in game two of the series Friday at Sewell-Thomas Stadium, with first pitch set for 6 p.m.

SEC Network+ will carry the broadcast.

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