South Alabama takes Sun Belt baseball crown; Bama gets at-Large NCAA bid
South Alabama celebrates the final out of the Sun Belt tournament at Riverwalk Stadium on Sunday. (Eddie Olszewski)
By TIM GAYLE
The early moments of Sunday’s Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship game had not according to Mark Calvi’s plan.
But when the South Alabama skipper turned to his Wednesday star, Miles Smith, in the second inning for relief, he had a good feeling that Smith would deliver.
“Miles has been a dog for us all year,” Calvi said. “He threw close to 100 pitches on Wednesday and for him to come up and toe it up for seven innings, he’s a dog on the mound and I expect nothing less.”
Smith held Georgia Southern in check and the South Alabama bats came alive to help the Jaguars win the championship game at 10-4 at Riverwalk Stadium on Sunday, clinching a berth in the NCAA Regionals in the process.
On Monday, South Alabama (33-20) learned it would be headed to Gainesville, Fla where they will face Miami on Friday in the NCAA Regionals.
The tournament, in its first year of a five-year contract with Riverwalk Stadium and the city of Montgomery, drew a respectable crowd for the championship game and the Jaguars finished the tournament unbeaten, defeating Coastal Carolina 14-7 on Wednesday and Little Rock 6-2 on Thursday to win its pool and beating Texas-Arlington in the semifinals on Saturday to advance to the championship game.
Smith, who had been instrumental in the win over Coastal Carolina on Wednesday, repeated his effort on Sunday with 7.2 innings of relief, throwing 110 pitches and scattering six hits in the win.
“I’m built for long games,” he said. “I was going to take the ball until they told me I couldn’t.”
The senior from Laurel, Miss., was chosen as the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Joining Smith on the all-tournament team were Coastal Carolina outfielder Nick Lucky, Louisiana pitcher Spencer Arrighetti and designated hitter Ben Fitzgerald, Texas-Arlington outfielder Connor Aube and pitcher Carlos Tavera, the Georgia Southern quartet of outfielders Parker Biederer and Josh Smith, pitcher Jordan Jackson and first baseman Jason Swan and the South Alabama quartet of outfielders Hunter Donaldson and Ethan Wilson, first baseman Kaleb DeLaTorre and shortstop Santi Montiel.
Early on, the game favored Georgia Southern (34-23) as Mason McWhorter hit his 18th homer of the season, an opposite-field shot to left, in the first inning as South Alabama starter Matt Boswell allowed five hits with his first 16 pitches.
Just that quickly, Smith came in to put out the fire.
“We got kicked in the mouth a couple of times early and it didn't feel good,” Calvi said. “We minimized some damage. Boswell had good stuff, he was just missing middle but was touching 94 (mph). We knew they were a good fastball-hitting team and they were going to be aggressive to him like they were last time. We were hoping to get three or four innings, but it didn't happen that way, then go to Miles and kind of read it from there.”
Almost as crucial as Smith’s performance on the mound was Richard Sorrenti’s three-run home run in the second inning that tied the game at 3-3.
“I was hunting one pitch,” Sorrenti said, “and luckily I didn't miss it.”
The win marked the first time the Jags have won both the conference regular-season title and tournament since 2001. The last time South Alabama won the conference tournament, the Jaguars defeated Georgia Southern in Statesboro, Ga., in 2017.
Now, the tournament is showcased in Riverwalk, but the biggest draws were missing from Sunday’s championship game. Troy, which featured Wetumpka freshman Seth Johnson, lost on Tuesday and the rules governing ties in pool play meant the Trojans’ second game on Friday was meaningless. Coastal Carolina, featuring former LAMP star Parker Chavers, played on Tuesday and Wednesday and was eliminated from semifinal consideration by South Alabama, while Louisiana, featuring former St. James star Tyler Robertson, reached Saturday’s semifinals before losing to Georgia Southern in extra innings.
Tide headed to Rushton
Alabama baseball earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014 as the Crimson Tide was selected as one of four teams that make up the Ruston Regional hosted by Louisiana Tech University.
The Crimson Tide will be joined in Ruston by No. 2 seed North Carolina State and No. 4 seed Rider long with top-seeded host Louisiana Tech. The opening round of NCAA Regionals will begin on Friday and run through Monday, June 7. Each Regional is double-elimination with only one team advancing from each Regional site into NCAA Super Regional play.
Alabama will be making its 25th all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its first appearance since 2014. The Crimson Tide holds a 70-49 (.588) overall record in the NCAA Tournament, including a 56-35 (.615) mark in Regionals. Alabama has claimed seven Regional Championships in program history including titles in 1950, 1983, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2006, 2010.