One night after giving up a ninth inning three run home run to blow a two run lead, Tommy Hunter returned to a similar situation on Saturday night. This time Hunter worked out of a jam and collected the save as Alabama defeated LSU 5-2 to even the three game series at a game a piece. He pitched out of a nobody out, men on 2nd and 3rd situation in the eighth inning and a perfect ninth to secure Alabama's win over LSU.
LSU(16-12-1, 2-5-1 SEC) took a 1-0 lead with an unearned run off Robert in the first inning. Alabama tied the game at 1 in the bottom of the third inning as Greg Paiml hit a one-out double and eventually scored on Alex Avila’s sacrifice fly.
The Crimson Tide took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning, loading the bases with no outs but scoring only on a two-out infield single by Emeel Salem. LSU came back to tie the game on Blake Dean’s RBI single in the top of the fifth inning.
Alabama(18-11, 4-4 SEC) took a 4-2 lead in the sixth inning. Ryan Rhoden and Brandon Belcher led off with consecutive singles, then moved to second and third on Jeff Texada’s sacrifice. Greg Paiml struck out for the second out and the Tigers intentionally walked Salem to load the bases. Freshman Jake Smith then followed with a clutch two-out, two-run single off Jared Bradford -- his former high school teammate at Hueytown -- to give Alabama a two-run lead.
The series concludes Sunday afternoon at 2pm from Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
