Alabama baseball drops extra-inning heartbreaker to Florida

HOOVER, Ala. — Despite entering Wednesday evening as one of the SEC’s hottest teams, Alabama couldn’t continue its recent run against the conference’s biggest bully. The No. 9 seed Crimson Tide dropped to the losers’ bracket of the SEC Tournament with a 7-6 loss to top-seeded Florida in 11 innings.

After scoring three runs in the top of the 11th inning, Alabama saw its upset bid squashed as Florida capped off a four-run rally with a walk-off home run from BT Riopelle over the wall in center field.

Alabama (39-18) missed out on a chance to cement its status as a future NCAA regional host with what would have been its best win of the season. However, the Tide can still build on its resume as it looks to reach the 40-win plateau for the first time since 2010.

Alabama will return to the field Thursday as it takes on the loser of Wednesday night’s game between No. 4 seed Vanderbilt and No. 5 seed Auburn.

Here are a few takeaways from Wednesday night’s game.

If Alabama falls short of hosting a regional next week, it will be haunted by Wednesday night’s heart-breaking finish.

The Crimson Tide appeared to have the upset secured when it plated three runs in the top of the 11th. Alabama led off the inning with back-to-back singles, placing runners on first and third with no outs for Mac Guscette. From there it appeared to take the lead as pinch-runner Camden Hayslip scored on a bunt as the throw to first hit Guscette in the back. However, the run was taken off the board as Guscette was called out for runner interference.

From there, Cayden Rose struck out swinging before Jim Jarvis was intentionally walked to load the bases for Tommy Seidl. The redshirt senior came up big, knocking a three-double to right field to give the Crimson Tide a commanding lead heading to the bottom half of the inning.

Unfortunately for Alabama, the celebration was short-lived as Florida rattled off three straight hits before Riopelle smashed a three-run home run to right center to end the game.

“Basically what I told them is, ‘Hey, this hurts. It’s supposed to hurt.’ ... It was an emotional game and again, it was a very well-played game,” Alabama interim coach Jason Jackson said. “It’s a kick in the gut. It’s OK to be pissed. You should be pissed.

“But we’ll go back to the hotel, going to eat and be pissed off for a little while and it’s OK. But when we wake up tomorrow, that score resets to 0-0 and when we get to the ballpark, we got to be ready to bring it.”

Alton Davis II (0-2) took the loss for Alabama, giving up three runs on three hits without recording an out in relief.

“Alton’s been great for us all year,” Jackson said. “You got to give them credit. They had some great at-bats.”

Clinging to a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the eighth, Alabama’s upset bid began to unravel.

After walking Florida leadoff hitter Dale Thomas, Crimson Tide reliever Aiden Moza made a costly blunder, throwing wide to first on a sacrifice bunt. The error allowed Dale Thomas to score from first while giving the Gators to a runner on second with no outs and the top of its lineup coming to the plate.

Fortunately for Alabama, Moza was able to wriggle out of the jam. The sophomore got Cade Kurland to fly out to the warning track before the Tide elected to intentionally walk Wyatt Langford to put runners on the corners for Caglianone, the NCAA’s home run leader. Moza fanned the Gators slugger before striking out Rivera the next at-bat to keep the game tied heading into the ninth.

Moza continued to redeem himself in the bottom of the ninth, retiring six of the next seven batters he faced before giving up a single to lead off the bottom of the 11th. He threw 4⅓ innings on the night, giving up two runs, one earned, on two hits.

For three innings, Alabama’s bats could hardly touch Hurston Waldrep. The Florida ace faced the minimum over the first three frames. His only blemish came on an infield single from Andrew Pinckney that was quickly wiped out as Colby Shelton lined into a double play the next at-bat.

It looked as though Waldrep’s success would extend into the fourth as he retired the first two batters he faced in the inning. However, Drew Williamson kept things alive by hustling out an infield single to first as Waldrep was slow to cover the base from the mound. From there, the Florida ace hit Pinckney before giving up an RBI single to Shelton to cut the Gators’ lead to 2-1.

Alabama played small ball to tie the game the following inning as Ed Johnson drew a leadoff walk before a sacrifice bunt from Guscette moved him to second. After a single from Caden Rose put runners on the corners, Jarvis evened things up with a sacrifice fly to right field.

Shelton continued his two-out heroics to give the Tide the lead in the top of the sixth, smacking a solo shot over the right field wall to put Alabama on top 3-2. Waldrep, who is projected as a first-round pick in this year’s MLB draft, lasted 5⅔ innings, surrendering three runs on five hits while striking out seven batters.

Luke Holman nearly got off to a perfect start on the mound himself. The Alabama ace struck out Florida’s first two batters before Jac Caglianone found a hole in the Tide’s shift with a single to right. From there, Holman made the game’s first mistake, hanging a breaking pitch over the plate for Florida cleanup hitter Josh Rivera to line over the wall in left.

Holman didn’t let the two-run shot shake him. After allowing the first two Florida batters to reach base in the top of the second, he worked his way out of the jam before finding his footing on the hill. In total, the right-hander went 5⅔ innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits and three walks while striking out five batters. Wednesday night marked Holman’s second straight quality start as he allowed one run over 6⅔ innings during Alabama’s 4-1 victory over Ole Miss last week.