Tide Baseball Wins Midweek Matchup With Middle Tennessee

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Alabama baseball improved to 4-0 on the 2025 season with a walk-off, mercy rule win in its first midweek contest 12-2 over Middle Tennessee State Tuesday night in Sewell-Thomas Stadium.

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The Crimson Tide clinched the win with a home run by Justin Lebron, his second of the season, to put the Tide up by 10.

The win marks Alabama's fourth straight game scoring 10 or more runs this season following the opening weekend series sweep over Bradley that saw the Crimson Tide outscore the Braves 40-13.

JT Blackwood, a right-handed junior from Cullman, got the start on the mound for the Crimson Tide, marking the second time he's seen action thus far in the young season.

Blackwood had an efficient outing, holding the Raiders hitless through the first three innings and surrendering only one run over four innings to snag his first win of the season after throwing a frame in the recent series with Bradley.

Blackwood tossed 55 pitches Tuesday night, giving up the one earned run on three hits, while striking out three.

The Crimson Tide used five pitchers in Tuesday's win, including Tyler Fay, Tuscaloosa native Tate Robertson, Coulson Buchanan and Aidan Moza.

The Raiders' two runs came by way of five hits and two errors.

Tide outfielder Bryce Fowler got things going with a lead-off double in the gap to right-center, before Justin Lebron was hit by a pitch. With bases loaded, third baseman Jason Torres walked to bring in the Crimson Tide's first run of the day in the bottom half of the first.

Lebron got his first hit of the day in the bottom of the fourth with a single that cleared two more runners to extend Alabama's lead to 8-1. The Tide shortstop finished the day 2-for-5 with 3 RBI.

One of the bigger developing storylines from the game came early in the evening when second baseman Garrett Staton was hit in the hand by a pitch and left the game. The status of his injury is unclear as of the publication of this story.

Staton was replaced by Jacksonville State transfer Brennan Norton, who went 2-for-4 with an RBI single in the bottom of the 7th inning.

MTSU got into trouble in the bottom half of the third when two runs were walked in with bases loaded before, setting up a double by Coleman Mizell to bring two across and put the Crimson Tide up 5-0.

Will Hodo would go on to hit his first home run of the new campaign in the bottom of the fourth — a 374-foot shot to the gap in right-center. Hodo broke out of a slight slump during the first series of the season to go 3-for-5 against MTSU with the home run and an RBI-double.

The Crimson Tide (4-0, 0-0 SEC) will return to action Wednesday at Sewell-Thomas Stadium when Alabama State comes to Tuscaloosa for a midweek matchup.

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