Alabama takes three-run lead in extra innings, loses 7-6 to Florida in SEC baseball tournament

Alabama took a three-run lead over No. 1 seed Florida in the 11th inning of the SEC baseball tournament but lost, 7-6, when Florida scored four runs in the bottom of the frame.

Minutes after Alabama players and their fans were celebrating what could have been the program’s first win over a tournament top seed since 2010, the Gators’ BT Riopelle ripped a walk-off, three-run home run to shock the Wednesday night crowd in the Hoover Met.

The roller-coaster extra inning loss puts No. 9 seed Alabama in an elimination game Thursday against the loser of Wednesday’s late-night game between No. 4 seed Vanderbilt and No. 5 seed Auburn. Thursday’s game will begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of a scheduled 9:30 a.m. CT start between No. 10 seed Texas A&M and No. 6 seed South Carolina.

“Basically what I told them is, ‘Hey, this hurts. It’s supposed to hurt.’ ... It was an emotional game and again, it was a very well-played game,” Alabama interim coach Jason Jackson said. “It’s a kick in the gut. It’s OK to be pissed. You should be pissed.

“But we’ll go back to the hotel, going to eat and be pissed off for a little while and it’s OK. But when we wake up tomorrow, that score resets to 0-0 and when we get to the ballpark, we got to be ready to bring it.”

If Alabama wins Thursday’s game, which Garrett McMillan will start, it plays again Friday evening for a spot in Saturday’s semifinals. A loss Thursday eliminates Alabama from the tournament and await Monday’s NCAA tournament selection show.

Alabama entered No. 10 in RPI with a chance Wednesday to solidify its standing for a No. 1 seed in next month’s NCAA tournament, hosting a regional in Tuscaloosa. Florida entered No. 6 in RPI and No. 2 in the coaches’ poll and was the SEC’s regular-season champions.

“Alabama certainly is a team that when you look across the field, a team you can see hosting a regional,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “That’s just my honest opinion.”

The Gators took a 2-0 lead on a two-run home run off Tide starter Luke Holman in the first inning. But Holman settled down and did not allow another run as Alabama scored runs in the fourth and fifth innings to tie the game. Colby Shelton then smashed a 405-foot home run over the right field fence in the sixth inning, giving Alabama a 3-2 lead.

But the Gators forced extra innings after tying the game in the eighth inning. Aidan Moza, who replaced Holman and pitched four-plus innings, committed a throwing error on a Florida sacrifice bunt that allowed the tying run to score.

Alabama rallied in the top of the 11th to load the bases with two outs for Tommy Seidl, who cleared the bases with a double over the right fielder’s head. That gave Alabama a 6-3 lead heading into the bottom of the inning.

Moza allowed a lead-off single before he was replaced by Alton Davis II. The lefty allowed two more singles, with the second scoring a run to cut the lead to 6-4. That brought Riopelle to the plate with runners on the corners, and his home run ended the game before Alabama could record its first out of the 11th.

“Alton’s been great for us all year,” Jackson said. “You got to give them credit. They had some great at-bats.”

Alabama had won nine of its previous 11 games entering Wednesday, since it fired coach Brad Bohannon in early May amid a betting scandal. Wednesday’s game was Alabama’s first against Florida since it lost two games of a three-game series to begin the SEC schedule in March.

“[Alabama is] certainly now a totally different team than they were when we played them before,” O’Sullivan said. “They’re going to be someone to reckon with in the postseason, for sure.”

Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.