Hamiter's Home Runs, Incredible Double Play Lead Alabama Baseball to Win Over No. 21 Troy

It seems that when it comes to the Alabama and Troy baseball teams playing each other, neither a boring game nor unassuming finish will follow. Such was the case once again on Tuesday night at Riddle-Pace Field in Troy, Ala., when the Crimson Tide had major help from an improbable double play and two home runs by William Hamiter for a 7-6 win.

Since last June's NCAA Tournament classic in Tuscaloosa, which featured inexplicable defensive lapses by the Trojans that opened the door to an Alabama win, the two in-state squads have met again before Tuesday. On March 6, a late home run by third baseman Gage Miller was a defining moment in an 8-7 Crimson Tide win, capped off by a great game-ending catch from Evan Sleight in the outfield.

On Tuesday, Alabama (30-18) sped out to a 5-0 lead only to have the majority of it erased with No. 21 Troy's four-run fifth inning off Tyler Fay and Aidan Moza. The Trojans' Ethan Kavanagh had crossed home plate in the fourth, so the scoring spree in the next inning tied the game.

Hamiter, who entered the night with no home runs this season and was filling in for Sleight in right field for the third straight game, gave the home team no time to rest on its laurels. In commemoration of leading off the sixth inning, he blasted his second home run of the night over Troy's 27-foot right field wall and broke the tie. His first was an opposite-field shot on an 0-2 pitch in the fourth inning. Both were solos, but they made a difference.

"I've loved Hammy's at-bats all year," Alabama head coach Rob Vaughn said. "To see him get a little bit of an opportunity due to some unforeseen circumstances, he's just taken a lot of advantage of it." An illness from this past weekend appears to be what's kept Sleight out of the lineup.

The seventh and final Alabama run was scored, almost fittingly, by Hamiter when first baseman Will Hodo drew a two-out walk with the bags full. By then, it was the eighth inning, but the dramatics were still far from over. In the bottom half, Trojan pinch hitter Mikey Bello cut the 7-5 Crimson Tide lead to one run with a single that sent home Aidan Gilroy. In the visitors' ninth, Hamiter went down looking on a payoff pitch, and the top of the Troy order was due up with a chance to win the ball game.

Braylon Myers earned his second save of the season with Alton Davis II getting the night off. After he pitched in last weekend's series against Mississippi State which saw his team besieged by illness, Myers stepped up in a clutch spot on the road and finished the job, but it didn't go just like any other save.

He retired the first batter he faced, with whom he shares a last name (Troy leadoff hitter Kole Myers). The second reached base: Kavanagh singled. Parker Sessions pinch ran for him, and made the last out when first baseman Will Butcher lined out to Alabama center fielder TJ McCants. McCants saw his opportunity for a major outfield assist with Sessions caught in a bad spot and threw the ball toward first, where Hodo made a dive back to the bag just in time for the out.

That's how the latest iteration of a series between two teams which has had some of the most unlikely recent endings one can devise. An 8-3 double play. "If they're gonna beat him [Myers], they're gonna have to do it swinging the bat," Vaughn said. "Kinda took advantage of some tough baserunning there by them [Troy] at the end."

It was neither team's day from a pitching standpoint. Between the teams, there were 14 walks. Troy (34-16) had nine of them. The starters went a combined 4.1 innings and did not factor into the decision. Alabama's Kade Snell exited moments after taking the mound for a third inning of work, but remained in the contest as the Crimson Tide's designated hitter. Just one of Troy starter Logan Ross' three runs was earned.

The Trojans came into the game riding series wins over Coastal Carolina and Louisiana, breaking into all five the major polls in the process. Troy has played about as impressively as a team can on a stretch run with the regular season winding down. It took advantage of two straight walks from Fay (his only batters of the game) as part of its four-run fifth inning. Moza walked one himself. They all came around to score, as did Kavanagh on a sacrifice fly. When the dust settled, Moza emerged as the Crimson Tide's pitcher of record, grabbing his third win of the campaign.

"That's a heck of a team in Troy," said Vaughn. He still noticed his team's energy pick up as the game went along, despite dealing with some effects from the aforementioned illness. "The top of that order's as good as it gets." Notably, Kole Myers had extra bases stolen from him when left fielder Ian Petrutz went all out for a fly ball to end the third inning. Had that ball gotten down and yielded a run, based on how some of the recent Alabama-Troy games have shaken out, there is a world of limitless possibilities as to what could've happened. "I think [Kole] Myers is an unbelievable player, man," Vaughn said.

Alabama fell out of the D1Baseball poll for the first time all season following a 1-2 weekend in Starkville against the Bulldogs, but on Tuesday night took a tough win from one of the newcomers. The Crimson Tide never trailed, but needed all it could get from its still-recuperating roster. Next up on the docket is LSU in the final home series of SEC regular season play. Unlike some weeks in the past, it will be a more traditional Friday-Sunday set.

"There's so much hard work that's gone into this year thus far," Vaughn said. "I'm excited to get back home and welcome a heck of a team in." Such is a way of life in the SEC, even if the games will be at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. After a difficult road test in one of the toughest venues in the country at Dudy Noble Field, then a ranked road win on Tuesday, the prize awaiting the Crimson Tide is the reigning national champion.