Tide falls to Kentucky in late-night game

HOOVER | The old parental warning that nothing good happens after midnight could not have been more true for the University of Alabama baseball team on Wednesday night – and, especially, this morning.

The Crimson Tide, facing Kentucky in a first-round Southeastern Conference Tournament game that didn’t get started until 10:50 p.m., played worse as the hour grew later and fell 9-3 to the Wildcats.

“We gave away about four runs and like most teams, we can’t do that and win,” said Tide head coach Jim Wells. “This was uncharacteristic of us. We’d been playing better lately, but we did not play well in any phase in this game.”

The loss dropped Alabama (32-25) into the losers’ bracket of the double-elimination tournament. The Tide will play top-seeded Georgia, which lost to Ole Miss on Wednesday, in a 1 p.m. elimination game this afternoon – less than 12 hours after the conclusion of the first game, which wrapped up at 1:54 a.m.

Things started auspiciously for Alabama, which rapped out four consecutive singles off Kentucky starter Aaron Lovett to start the game. Those hits – including RBI singles by Alex Avila and Brandon May – gave UA a 2-0 lead.

A two-out throwing error by shortstop Josh Rutledge led to two unearned Kentucky runs in the bottom of the inning. Tyler Odle’s solo home run in the top of the second inning put the Crimson Tide back on top 3-2, but the Tide did little offensively after that.

Kentucky (42-15) tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Alabama had a golden opportunity to regain the lead in the top of the fifth inning but with the bases loaded and one out, first baseman Matt Bentley hit into an inning-ending double play.

Kentucky scored two runs in a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning, then tacked on four more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to blow the game open. Two of those runs scored on a three-base throwing error by UA third baseman Jake Smith, who rushed a throw to first on a sacrifice bunt attempt by UK.

Alabama managed just three hits over the final seven innings.

“We just need to come back and play better, on an even keel,” Wells said. “We were very emotional at the start of the game today and sometimes that is not the best thing.”

Lovett (5-1) was the winning pitcher for UK while freshman starter Jimmy Nelson (3-3) took the loss for Alabama.

Kentucky will face Ole Miss in the winners’ bracket tonight at 8 p.m.

All four tournament games on Wednesday lasted more than three hours.

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