Work to be done, but there's hope for Tide

By Chris Stewart

The Alabama baseball team dropped its second consecutive Southeastern Conference series, missing out on a golden opportunity to beat an LSU squad that had been struggling mightily in league play.

Not only that, the WAY the Tide lost those two games this weekend was extremely disappointing.

On Friday night, Alabama blew a 4-2 lead in the 9th when Michael Hollander drilled a three-run homer (on a two-strike count) over the right field wall. The Crimson Tide had a chance to steal the game back from the Tigers in the bottom of the inning, but with runners at 2nd and 3rd, couldn't get a two-out hit to provide the victory.

The series finale saw Bama surrender an early lead to their opponent for the third straight Sunday. LSU's three-run first inning forced the Tide to play catch-up all day. Again, Jim Wells' squad would have its chances for a comeback, but left too many men on base.

Nine games into SEC play, Alabama stands at 4-5 heading into a road trip to Nashville where the Tide will have to face Vanderbilt. The Commodores are likely to be the nation's top-ranked team when they meet, after Vandy went to Columbia and took two from South Carolina - who was No. 1 at the time.

Doesn't look like much potential for success does it?

Probably won't be. If the Tide can find a way to steal one game from the 'Dores, it would be a huge accomplishment.

Still, the prospects for the rest of this season look very good for Alabama. I don't think this team can win a second consecutive SEC title. There are too many teams with more experienced talent, such as Vandy, Arkansas, and South Carolina.

Yet, a young but-talented Tide squad can definitely be an NCAA Regional participant. With the return of Brandon Belcher and Austin Hyatt from arm troubles, Alabama now has a solid pitching staff with enough depth to win somewhere between 15 and 20 conference games.

That should be enough wins to get the Crimson Tide a berth in the SEC Tournament, and with it, an almost guaranteed spot in a regional. By that time, if Bama's young players continue to improve and the pitching gets stronger, this team could be experienced enough to make some noise.

Chris Stewart writes a weekly column for bamafever.com. Stewart is the radio play-by-play announcer for University of Alabama men's basketball. He is also the pre and post game host for the Crimson Tide Sports Network's coverage of Alabama Football. In addition, he hosts a talk show each weekday morning from 7 until 9 on Tuscaloosa's Sports Radio 1420, The Tusk. Bama Fever is a company devoted to providing University of Alabama Crimson Tide merchandise. We have stores in Birmingham, Tuscaloosa  and Huntsville and have now created an online catalog for Crimson Tide fans all over the world searching for that hard to find merchandise. We carry over 7,000 items in our stores and have posted many of these items right here in our online catalog.

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