Robert Tosses Gem As Bama Downs Vols 9-1

Tide wins 1st SEC series of Year

Senior right-hander Bernard Robert gave the Crimson Tide its most impressive outing on the mound this season, tossing the University of Alabama’s first complete game of the 2007 season en route to a 9-1 win over the Tennessee Volunteers at Sewell-Thomas Stadium Saturday afternoon.

The Denham Springs, La., native took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and turned in his longest outing in an Alabama uniform. It was his 10th career complete game and second at Alabama. His other complete-game for the Tide came in a seven-inning win at No. 1 South Carolina in 2006. Robert went nine innings, giving up four hits, two walks, and seven strikeouts.

Alabama (15-7, 2-0) had more than enough offense to support Robert. Sophomores Kent Matthes and Jeff Texada and senior Greg Paiml had two hits each for the Crimson Tide. Freshman Jake Smith and junior first baseman Matt Bentley stroked two-run home runs in the Tide’s four-run eighth inning.

Coach Jim Wells was pleased with Saturday's performance. "Robert did what we needed him to do today, it was beautiful. That was the best game he has pitched since he has been here. His pitch count was down heading into the last two innings. We needed him to go deep into the game and he did it. This was a good team win, we had some key extra base hits, too. Everyone in the line-up had one or two hits, so we were putting pressure on them up and down the line-up and not with just one or two guys.”

Alabama looks for the series sweep today in the series finale which is scheduled for 2:06 CT from Sewell-Thomas Stadium.