Alabama Shuts Out St. John’s 8-0 to Open Tuscaloosa Super Regional

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Alabama claimed a dominant 6-0 victory over St. John's in game one of the Tuscaloosa Super Regional, powered by outstanding performances from its upperclassmen at the plate and stellar pitching by Friday starter Tyler Fay.

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The Crimson Tide's starting pitcher delivered a terrific performance in his first-ever Super Regional appearance. The redshirt junior racked up nine strikeouts, scattered two hits, and walked three batters over seven scoreless innings, earning his 11th win of the season to improve his record to 11-4. Fay exited in the bottom of the eighth after recording his final strikeout. Alabama then turned to the bullpen, bringing in Ashton Crowther, who finished the eighth and ninth innings without allowing a run, keeping the Red Storm scoreless.

The Tide also delivered a stellar performance in front of a sold-out Sewell-Thomas Stadium, as Alabama Baseball set a new attendance record on Saturday with 7,573 fans for their game one win over St. John's. The previous record of 6,621 was set on March 29, 2003, against LSU.

Alabama got on the scoreboard first, posting two runs in the bottom of the second inning thanks to a two-RBI double to right field by senior second baseman Brennan Holt. The hit gave Holt his 23rd RBI of the season and put Alabama up 2-0 heading into the third inning.

The Crimson Tide extended its lead in the bottom of the fourth inning, capitalizing on clutch hitting and shaky pitching to plate four runs. Two came on a two-RBI double by Bryce Fowler down the right field line, and the other two were scored when Peyton Steele and Brady Neal drew bases-loaded walks. Alabama led 6-0 going into the fifth inning.

In the top of the seventh, St. John's loaded the bases with no outs and threatened to cut into Alabama's lead. Fay responded by striking out the next batter, and then shortstop Justin Lebron and Peyton Steele made impressive plays on pop-ups in shallow right and center field to end the inning and preserve the shutout.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Crimson Tide added two more runs when Justin Lebron hit a two-RBI double to deep right-center, driving in Vaughn from second and Bryce Fowler from first. It marked Lebron's first RBIs of the night and his third hit, as he finished the game 3-for-4 at the plate. Alabama took a commanding 8-0 lead into the final inning.

Alabama returns to action for game two on Sunday against the Red Storm, looking to punch its ticket to the College World Series in Omaha with a win. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT.

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