Alabama uses rare practice day to fix flaws before Harvard series

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CW / Austin Bigoney

Carey Reeder | @_CareyReeder, Staff Reporter

And then there were 15.

Alabama (9-0) is among those 15 remaining unbeaten Division I baseball clubs through Wednesday’s games. Four fellow SEC institutions — Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas A&M — join the Crimson Tide on that list, and the latter three await Alabama in conference play this season.

Alabama has not played the level of competition that those other three SEC schools have, such as new No. 1 Florida sweeping then-No. 1 Miami in its three-game series last weekend. The competition sample size is small, so it’s not surprising that the Crimson Tide remains unbeaten, but the club is off to its fourth-best start to a season in school history.

While most teams have been either playing or scrimmaging since mid-January, the Harvard Crimson comes to Tuscaloosa this weekend for its opening series of the season.

“It does make it tougher [to prepare],” coach Brad Bohannon said. “I’m sure they’ll be fired up and we will not get into debate competitions with them, but we’ll stick to baseball.”

Following its 12-6 win over Middle Tennessee State on Wednesday, Alabama got a rare day to practice on Thursday. From opening day on Feb. 14 until its first SEC series on March 13 against Missouri, the Crimson Tide only has seven true days of practice that would not involve traveling.

Bohannon said he wanted to use the day to “tighten up some things,” including cutting down on the errors after Alabama committed two on Wednesday to drop from No. 4 to No. 13 in the country in fielding percentage.

Sophomore T.J. Reeves sat out Wednesday’s contest for the first time this season after starting the previous eight. Last season Reeves was second on the team in home runs (nine) and slugging percentage (.482), but so far this season Reeves is batting .167 (5 for 30) with one extra-base hit and a team-high 12 strikeouts. It was both a routine day off and a mental reset for the sophomore outfielder.

“T.J. has been fighting a little bit and some days sitting and watching can help,” Bohannon said. “I didn’t think it would hurt for him to watch for a day and he’ll be back in there this weekend.”

The power in Alabama’s lineup is not among the things in need of tightening up after it let loose for a season-high 12 runs and 15 hits on Wednesday. Six Crimson Tide hitters are batting above .300 so far this season: junior Tyler Gentry (.484), redshirt sophomore Sam Praytor (.400), sophomore Drew Williamson (.370), freshman Owen Diodati (.367), senior Kolby Robinson (.346) and senior Brett Auerbach (.323). Alabama has launched a home run in eight of its nine games this season, and four of those games featured multiple long balls.

Alabama will roll out the same weekend rotation from its previous two weekend series this season with freshman Connor Prielipp (2-0) starting things off on Friday. Prielipp has allowed one hit in his 9.0 innings and struck out a team-high 15 batters. Sophomore Connor Shamblin (1-0) will start on Saturday, and freshman Antoine Jean (2-0) finishes on the mound for the Crimson Tide on Sunday.

Expect more extended outings for the starting pitchers against Harvard, followed by a mixture of pitchers out of the bullpen as Bohannon and Alabama pitching coach Jason Jackson work to solidify roles for players.

“We have some more guys we want to get out there and get some work,” Bohannon said. “[Harvard] has some key returning pieces. They’ll make it tough for us.”