NASHVILLE: 'Bama steals the lead

By Chris Lee - April 08, 2007

'Bama got a leadoff walk from pinch-hitter Del Howell to start the tenth, then walked Matt Bentley as he was trying to bunt.

Pinch-hitter Jeff Texada (pronounced "tay HAD uh") bunted both over a base for out one. Greg Paiml tried to go the other way against hard-throwing Casey Weathers with a drawn-in infield, and Brad French nailed Howell at home.

That brought up leadoff hitter Brandon Belcher. Weathers got a first-pitch strike looking, got strike two looking on what looked like a slider on the outside corner, then got a weak foul ball over the screen to hold the count at 0-2.

All of a sudden, runners broke from first and third on a straight steal with Weathers glaring in for the sign, and Weathers never saw it coming. The throw home to get pinch-runner Kyle Moore was too late, and 'Bama took a 4-3 lead.

Weathers got a ground ball from Brandon Belcher up the middle that Alex Feinberg should have held, as he had little shot to get Belcher at first. Instead, Feinberg threw to first wild, and the throw weint into the photographer's station, which by the ground rules advanced Belcher to second and brought Paiml home.

Weathers struck out Jake Smith to end it, but it's 5-3 'Bama with Vandy bringing No's. 9-1-2 (French, Macias, Alvarez) up in the bottom of the tenth.