• 63°
franklin county times

Alabama, Auburn clash today in SEC Tourney

HOOVER — State rivals meet today in the opening game of the Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament after following different paths to arrive there.

Auburn (39-17, 20-10) clinched a spot in the tournament earlier this season and has been playing for position. The Tigers’ season ending sweep of Ole Miss put Auburn gave Auburn the No. 2 seed.

Alabama (34-21, 15-15) looked like a long shot a few weeks ago, but a five-game winning streak in conference games propelled the Tide into the No. 7 seed.

Alabama used strong pitching from Jimmy Nelson and Nathan Kilcrease to reach the tournament, but both players might be fatigued heading into today’s game.

Nelson has pitched two complete games during the Tide’s win streak while Kilcrease pitched a complete game during last weekend’s series against Tennessee.

If their arms are tired, it could be a long day for Alabama. Auburn leads the SEC in several offensive categories including home runs (114), batting average (.354), slugging percentage (.597), on base percentage (.430), runs scored (527), hits (724), RBI (493), total bases (1,221) and sacrifice bunts (53).

Tiger first baseman Hunter Morris, named the SEC Player of the Year Tuesday, is a big contributor to those numbers. He leads the SEC in home runs (20), runs scored (34), total bases (101), and slugging percentage (.816). He is second in hits (51) and RBI (37) as well as third in batting average (.408).

This is Auburn’s first trip to the SEC Tournament since 2003 and the No. 2 seed is the highest Auburn has ever been during the tournament.

Alabama last won the SEC Tournament in 2003 and has been in the tournament five times since then. The Tide has a 5-10 record in the tournament since its last title.

This will be the fifth meeting of the season between these two squads. Auburn won a non-conference game 6-3 in March, but Alabama won the first game of the season series 10-5 and the second game 6-5 before Auburn won the final game of the SEC series 7-1.

The winner will play the winner of the Ole Miss vs. South Carolina game while the loser will play the loser of the Ole Miss vs. South Carolina game.

Franklin County

PROGRESS 2024: Veteran Spotlight – Mousey Brown

News

Russellville First Baptist Church receives historical marker

Franklin County

PROGRESS 2024: Meeting a higher standard – Russellville High School JROTC

News

RCS BOE announces new superintendent  

News

Miss Dream Girl Pageant names winners

Franklin County

First Metro Bank hosts FAME Girls’ Ranch donation drive

News

PCHS holds annual Shelby Grissom Memorial Fashion Show

Franklin County

PROGRESS 2024: VFW Post 5184 – ‘No One Does More For Veterans’

Features

Supporting students’ futures

Features

Red Bay Garden Club discusses amaryllis planting

Franklin County

UA announces local students for fall 2023 President’s, Dean’s, graduation lists

News

School news

Franklin County

PROGRESS 2024: Veteran Spotlight – Troy Oliver

Franklin County

Appropriations bill passes, allots more than $3 million for new Russellville library/multipurpose center 

Franklin County

Franklin County Cattlemen’s Association names Cattleman of the Year 

Franklin County

Franklin County votes: Unofficial March 5 primary election results 

Franklin County

Funding for new Russellville library, multipurpose community center expected this week

Features

Faces of Franklin County: BTCPA

News

GFWC Russellville Book Lovers Club sponsors downtown art crawl

Franklin County

PROGRESS 2024: Veteran Spotlight – Cody Bragwell

Franklin County

42nd annual Miss RHS pageant names winners 

News

Miss RHS pageant takes place Friday

Franklin County

Political announcement: David Hester speaks about run for reelection as county commissioner

Franklin County

BTCPA auditions for final production of season take place March 3-4 

x