Alabama sprints through the Murray State Racers

By WVUA 23 Digital Reporter Hunter De Siver

Alabama took down undefeated Murray State 5-1 on a beautiful Friday in Tuscaloosa.

In the big four U.S. sports (baseball, football, basketball, hockey), there are two sides to play: offense and defense.

A famous quote across these sports is “offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships”. Believe it or not, this quote was championed by Alabama godfather Bear Bryant.

On the baseball field, getting strikeouts, making great catches and switching shifts are all reasons why a defense can be great.

The point guard of Friday’s lockdown defense was pitcher Garrett McMillan. McMillan finished with seven strikeouts, three hits and zero earned runs allowed in six innings on the mound of Sewell-Thomas Stadium.

Relief pitcher Dylan Ray backed up McMillan by throwing seven strikeouts of his own, but allowed a home run in the 8th inning.

Alabama head coach Brad Bohannon said that he was extremely proud of McMillan and Ray’s pitching performances and hopes they can continue to play that way the rest of the season.

“If we can continue to pitch like that, then we’re going to be in every game that we play and have a chance to have a really good season,” Bohannon said.

A lot of times in baseball, a manager will put his power hitters in the middle of the lineup. Middle-of-the-pack hitters (No. 5-7) Tommy Seidl, Andrew Pinckney and Owen Diodati led the way on offense. 

Seidl went 3-4 with a home run, an RBI and scored twice. Pinckney went 3-4 with a triple and scored three times. Diodati went 2-4 with two RBIs.

Alabama looks to race through Murray State again on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.