Alabama baseball suffered a 4-0 loss to Stetson on Saturday afternoon at Dick Howser Stadium to end the Tide’s time at the NCAA Tallahassee Regional. The Crimson Tide finished the 2024 season at 33-24 overall.
Stetson was able to cross single tallies in the first, third, sixth and seventh innings to earn the shutout victory. Alabama had its chances, stranding nine runners on the day, but could not break through.
The win went to Stetson reliever Anthony DeFabbia (9-1) while the loss went to Ben Hess (5-5) despite a solid outing. Hess matched his career-high for innings with 6.2, allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits and three walks with eight strikeouts for the hard-luck loss.
From Head Coach Rob Vaughn
“The lasting memory of the 2024 Alabama baseball team is going to be a group of fighters, a group of tough kids and a group that pulled together to do some special things. That’s the stuff these guys will take with them when the pain goes. I would much rather be hurting now (at a Regional). I’ve had teams that can’t wait for the season to end, but that’s the exact opposite of this team. It hurts to see this thing end.”
How It Happened
- B1 | Kyle Jones led off the game with a home run. (1-0, Stetson)
- B3 | A leadoff double followed by a single put a man at third before a sacrifice fly scored one for the Hatters. (2-0, Stetson)
- B6 | With one on, a single and an error put a man at third before a 6-3 groundout crossed an unearned run. (3-0, Stetson)
- B7 | A two-out double added one run to widen the gap. (4-0, Stetson)
Postgame Notes
- Alabama finished with 33 wins on the season. The 33 wins represent the third-most victories under a first-year head coach in program history, trailing only the 42 by both Jim Wells (1995) and Mitch Gaspard (2010).
- The Crimson Tide advanced to an NCAA Regional in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2013-14.
- Today’s first pitch time was delayed by 3:24 due to weather.
- Ben Hess finished with eight strikeouts and totaled 106 on the season. He is the first Alabama pitcher to record 100-plus strikeouts in a single season since Dylan Smith accumulated 113 in 2021.
- Hess’ 106 strikeouts are the fifth-most in Alabama single-season history.
- The junior worked a career-high tying 6.2 frames in his start. Hess also tossed 6.2 innings in each of his last two starts.
** This information was acquired from a recent press release from Alabama Athletics. *
Not a member, Alabama fans? Join BOL today!
Have you subscribed to BamaOnLine.com yet? You can sign up for ONE MONTH of premium access to our Alabama coverage for just $1! Be able to read all of BOL’s premium articles and nuggets covering Alabama sports and recruiting and also join thousands of other Crimson Tide fans around the globe on the BOL Round Table message board! CLICK HERE!
The post Alabama baseball’s season ends with loss to Stetson in Tallahassee Regional appeared first on On3.