4 days Ago
TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— In its rematch Tuesday against UAB, the Alabama baseball team turned to a familiar starter in an unfamiliar role. Right-hander Bobby Alcock, who has become accustomed to starting Sundays in 2025, was taken out of the weekend rotation following a difficult start against Auburn on April 5.
He went one-third of an inning that night, closing the evening with four runs given up. Alcock went 3.2 innings against the Blazers (19-18) in his first midweek start on Tuesday, allowing just one run and providing a shutout first inning (which, in a twist of irony, nobody did over the past weekend against Mississippi State).
His head coach delved briefly into how Alcock handled the last week postgame. "Like any competitor, [he was] not thrilled," Crimson Tide coach Rob Vaughn said after Alabama's 5-3 win Tuesday. "I wouldn't want him to be thrilled.
If he was fist-pumping because he wasn't starting on the weekend, I think we'd have bigger issues." The Gardner-Webb transfer has experienced the highs and lows of a college baseball season after missing all of 2024. On March 16, he went seven shutout innings against Texas A&M in College Station.
That remains the best start by an Alabama hurler this spring. "He's a vet. He's been there.
I think he could acknowledge, 'Hey, I've gotta be a little bit better in some areas.' When we tossed him the ball today, he did a good job," Vaughn said. "We needed Bob to get out and get us out of the gate.
.. He just made some pitches.
" The No. 15 Crimson Tide used a lot of arms in the weekend series loss against the Bulldogs, meaning Alcock's start was magnified by the fact that had he not paced his team, Alabama (30-8) might have been in even more trouble than UAB usually gives it. "We had a lot of guys kinda down today," Vaughn said.
"We had some guys throw Saturday and Sunday. We had guys throw Friday, Saturday. We had some guys just extended that we knew probably weren't gonna be on the table tonight.
" Alcock, who entered Tuesday's game with a 5.97 ERA (now down to 5.57), did not throw any innings this weekend.
There didn't seem to be any rust. When he's pitching at his best, he's not only a viable option, but also a legitimate threat on weekends. Seven shutout frames against the reigning national runner-up in one of college baseball's toughest atmospheres don't happen by accident.
"He wasn't perfect, but he executed some pitches and got us a good start out of the game," Vaughn said. "You can nitpick every guy's outing if you want to, but at the end of the day, they did a great job of minimizing stuff." See Also:.
