Alabama baseball: high-powered offense leads Crimson Tide to sweep of Valparaiso

Alabama baseball won its second series of the season with a sweep of Valparaiso. The No. 17 Crimson Tide run-ruled the Beacons in every game by scores of 14-2, 13-3 and 11-1.

The No. 17 Crimson Tide (8-0) stayed undefeated thanks to its red-hot offense. Every member of the lineup contributed to the runs explosion, as eight of the Tide's nine starters recorded a hit Friday, and seven did so on Saturday. T.J. McCants and Gage Miller increased their active hit streaks to eight and seven games, respectively, while Ian Petrutz and Coleman Mizell recorded their first career home runs in crimson.

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"We've talked every game about trying to be a better version of ourselves," coach Rob Vaughn said. "Play cleaner, play better, be more efficient with what we're doing, and I thought we did that all weekend."

Here are three takeaways from Alabama's (8-0) series sweep against Valparaiso (2-5):

Gage Miller leads Alabama baseball's dominant offense

Alabama third baseman Gage Miller continued his fabulous start to the season this weekend, hitting a home run in every game of the series.

On Friday, Miller propelled the Crimson Tide to an early 6-0 lead over the Beacons in the bottom of the second inning with a three-run home run. He tied for the team lead in home runs with TJ McCants at three and finished the first game 2-for-4 at the plate with five RBIs.

The weekend featured more of the same for Miller. He hit a solo home run in his first at-bat in the bottom of the first inning while adding two more RBIs through the rest of the game. His third home run in as many days came in the bottom of the second inning on Sunday with a two-run blast into left field.

Against Valparaiso, Miller went 7-for-13 at the plate with three home runs and 10 RBIs. He also had two put-outs and five assists from third base.

Alabama baseball's offense scores early and often

Alabama was able to score runs in bunches against the Beacons, something that coach Rob Vaughn has emphasized as an area the team needed to improve upon.

"I thought that was the first game this year where our offense really did what it is capable of doing. It was relentless at-bats after the first inning, I thought it was electric and hopefully that keeps up," Vaughn said.

The Crimson Tide scored six runs in the second inning and four in the fourth on Friday as they took a 10-2 lead into the fifth. A pair of two-run innings in the fifth and sixth gave Alabama the lead they needed to finish the game in seven. On Saturday, Alabama hit four home runs and scored seven in the first inning before adding five runs in the third to make it 12-3 through three innings.

Sunday's offense was more steady than explosive. Alabama scored two in each of the first three innings before adding one in the fourth and another pair in the sixth. With a 9-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh, McCants ended the game with a two-run home run to mercy-rule the Beacons for a third straight game.

Alabama's bullpen surrenders zero runs

The season-ending injury to sophomore Riley Quick forced the Crimson Tide to make an early adjustment to their starting rotation this weekend. Aidan Moza moved into Quick's spot as the Saturday starter, while senior Lousiville transfer Greg Farone stepped up on Sunday. Ben Hess remained the Friday starter.

Interestingly, every run scored by Valparaiso in the series came with one of the three starters on the mound. The Beacons failed to score when hitting against the Tide's bullpen, a trend that Vaughn hopes will continue.

"The arms have had so much success, sometimes you forget it's different when there's traffic on the bases," Vaughn said. "It's good for them to get in that situation and have to pitch through it and compete their way through it."

Tyler Fay and Sam Mitchell relieved Hess for three innings on Friday, while Coulson Buchanan and Jackson Baker did the same for Moza on Saturday. Since the offense scored enough for back-to-back mercy rules, the relievers weren't asked for much and only had to pitch six innings across the first two games.

Sunday's slower-scoring affair allowed Alabama to look deeper into its pen. Austin Morris, Braylon Myers and Texas transfer Pierce George combined for five strikeouts.

What's next for Alabama baseball?

Alabama will play on the road for the first time this season on Tuesday, Feb. 27 when it travels to Birmingham to take on the UAB Blazers at 6 p.m. CT. The Tide will then head to Frisco, Texas, for a weekend at the Frisco Classic, where they will face Indiana (March 1, 6 p.m. CT), Arizona (March 2, 4 p.m. CT) and Dallas Baptist (March 3, 4 p.m. CT).

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Undefeated Alabama baseball sweeps Valparaiso: scores and takeaways