BASEBALL: Crimson Tide sweeps Georgia

ATHENS, Ga. | Alabama scored single runs in the third, fifth and eighth innings and starting pitcher Spencer Turnbull threw seven scoreless innings as the Crimson Tide defeated Georgia 3-0 on Sunday and completed a sweep of the Bulldogs.

The Crimson Tide (16-9, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) has won six straight games.

"Spencer Turnbull really started to mature today as a pitcher, particularly when he worked out of the jam in the middle part of the game," Alabama coach Mitch Gaspard said. "He was outstanding and maintained his velocity through the seventh inning when he came out of the game. He threw a lot of quality pitches throughout the day, and I thought our defense early in the game contributed to the pitching performance."

Turnbull improved to 2-1, allowing five hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

Freshman reliever Ray Castillo entered to start the eighth and threw two scoreless innings with four strikeouts to complete Alabama's first shutout. The save for Castillo was his fourth.

"Ray has been our most consistent guy out of the bullpen," Gaspard said. "His velocity was really good, sitting 91-95 with a real good breaking ball. He stayed ahead of counts and throwing first pitch strikes. It was just a quality effort on the mound to secure our first shutout."

The top three spots in the Alabama batting order produced seven of the team's 11 hits, scored two runs and drove in both RBIs. Leadoff hitter Georgie Salem was 2-for-5 with two runs scored, No. 2 hitter Kenny Roberts was 3-for-4 with an RBI and was hit by a pitch and Ben Moore was 2-for-3 with an RBI.

Mikey White finished the game with a 2-for-3 with a walk and Kyle Overstreet extended his hitting streak to six games with his first career triple in the eighth inning to finish the game 1-for-4 with a run scored.

Georgia starting pitcher Bryan Benzor (1-1) took the loss after allowing an earned run on five hits in four innings in his first start. The Bulldogs (8-16, 0-6 SEC) had seven hits in the game as Kyle Farmer, Daniel Nichols and Jared Walsh had two each.

Alabama left runners on second and third in the first inning. In the third inning, Salem had a one-out single and Roberts was hit by a pitch before Moore delivered an RBI single to left field to score Roberts.

Salem singled off reliever Palmer Betts in the fifth then stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Roberts singled for the second time in the game to drive in Salem for a 2-0 Alabama lead.

Georgia threatened in the fifth inning after a walk and a single put runners on the corners to open the inning. Turnbull buckled down and got a flyout to left field and back-to-back strikeouts to keep the Bulldogs off the scoreboard.

After Turnbull got the first two outs in the seventh inning, Georgia got singles Nichols and Walsh then pinch-hitter Sean McLaughlin reached after striking out on a wild pitch. With the bases loaded, Turnbull got Cody Sheedy to ground out to second to end the inning.

Alabama added an insurance run in the top of the eighth inning. Overstreet tripled with one out then after Alabama loaded the bases, Overstreet scored on a wild pitch for a 3-0 lead.

Alabama plays Alabama-Birmingham at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.

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