Caden Rose homers twice but Alabama falls to No. 1 Wake Forest in Game 1
Things could not have started much worse for the Alabama baseball team during the first game of its best-of-three series against No. 1 Wake Forest. It took just one pitch for the Demon Deacons to get on the scoreboard, giving an early boost of energy through the home crowd.
However, the Crimson Tide did not go away and gave the top-ranked team in the country plenty of worries. Alabama eventually got the tying run on base with the heart of the order up in the eighth inning but Wake Forest survived behind performances from two of the team's top pitchers. Rhett Lowder improved his record to 15-0 this season while Sean Sullivan struck out the final five batters Alabama sent to the plate, clinching Wake Forest's 5-4 victory Saturday afternoon.
"Really, really good college baseball game," Alabama interim head coach Jason Jackson said. "A couple of really good starters going at it and a couple of really good bullpens going at it too... I thought it was a well-played game from both sides. We did some good things, they did some good things. They got us today, we'll be back tomorrow."
Alabama (43-20) sent Luke Holman to the mound to start the Winston Salem Super Regional but the home team quickly got to the Tide's ace. Tommy Hawke hit a home run to lead off the bottom of the first inning and Wake Forest added two more runs in the second inning but Holman eventually settled in. He allowed five runs (four earned) on six hits while striking out eight across 5 2/3 innings.
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It did not take long for Wake Forest to see its early three-run lead erased. Alabama first got on the board when Caden Rose hit a home run in the top of the third then Colby Shelton hit a two-run shot to tie the game in the fourth.
A defining moment in the game came in the bottom of the fifth inning. Holman appeared to strike out Danny Corona to end the inning but after an appeal to the third-base umpire, it was determined Corona checked his swing on a ball in the dirt. On the following pitch, Corona hit a go-ahead homer and the Demon Deacons would not give the lead back.
After the home run, Alabama had an assistant coach ejected from the bench for arguing the call.
"Check swings are tough calls," Jackson said of the call. "Those guys have a tough job on that. From where we're at in the dugout, he's got a better view than I do, but from where we're at, obviously we thought that was strike three... I thought he went but like I said, that's always a tough call for umpires. I get it."
An error to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning came back to haunt the Tide as Wake Forest extended its lead to 5-3. Lowder, who is considered to be a top-10 pick in this month's MLB Draft, was eventually chased from the game in the seventh inning but he finished with six strikeouts while allowing just three runs on five hits.
Sullivan came on in relief and struck out seven batters in just 2 2/3 innings on the mound. The only blemish against the reliever was Rose's second home run of the day which came in the top of the eighth inning.
"This is the two best teams in the country going at it right now," Rose said. "I don't care what they have us ranked, this is the best two teams in the country slugging it out. Whoever makes more mistakes, that's usually the team that loses and we made one too many mistakes today. That's something we have to flush and come back out tomorrow and play our best baseball."
Alabama will now have to win two consecutive games against the Demon Deacons to advance to the College World Series. Game 2 of the series is set for Sunday at noon.