TUSCALOOSA | It was a walk in the park for the University of Alabama baseball team on Tuesday night … and another walk … and another walk.

The Crimson Tide took advantage of 11 walks by Jacksonville State pitchers, including four in the first inning, to take a 12-6 win over the Gamecocks in college baseball action at Sewell-Thomas Field on Tuesday night.

Alabama's Kent Matthes drove in five runs in the game with a pair of singles and a sacrifice fly. Designated hitter Alex Avila had two hits and scored three runs for the Crimson Tide.

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Nathan Kilcrease was the winning pitcher for UA, shutting out the Gamecocks over the final five innings. The Crimson Tide was not quite as generous as Jacksonville State in allowing bases on balls, but still walked eight hitters in the game.

Tuscaloosa native Del Howell was the starting pitcher for the Crimson Tide — the first start of his UA career — but worked only three innings. He loaded the bases in the top of the fourth, but reliever Jamie Manning came on to strike out the side.

'I haven't seen that many walks [19] by both sides in a long time,' said Alabama coach Jim Wells.

'Kilcrease came in and threw strikes which was all we needed. We had a couple of hitters who came through. Of course, everyone is a better hitter with a 3-1 count. We got to see a lot of pitches tonight.'

Jacksonville State's control problems began in the first inning as four walks by starter Justin King allowed Alabama to score four runs on only one hit. Matt Bentley had the only hit in the inning, an RBI single, and capped the inning's scoring by stealing home.

After Jacksonville State scored a single run in the top of the third inning, Alabama tacked on four more runs in the bottom of the inning. Avila led off the inning with a double and JSU contributed to the Tide cause with two errors.

JSU (9-12) scored two runs in the top of the fourth inning but Alabama immediately answered as Matthes' two-run single pushed the Tide edge to 10-3.

The Gamecocks scored three more runs in the fifth before Kilcrease ended the threat. The right-hander went on to close the game for the Tide, raising his record to 2-0 on the season.

The win was the third in a row for the Crimson Tide and put Alabama back above the .500 mark for the season at 12-11.

The two teams will meet again tonight in Jacksonville. Righthander Austin Evans is the tentative starter for the Crimson Tide.

'We will need to play better than we did tonight,' Wells said. 'Jacksonville has always been a tough place to play. We've had difficulty winning there even in years when we have had some very good teams.'

Reach Cecil Hurt at cecil.hurt@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0225.