Special to the American Press

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Nate Fisbeck went 3-for-5 at the plate with a double, RBI and run scored and McNeese out-hit 25th-ranked Alabama for the second time this weekend, but the Crimson Tide used the long ball for the second straight game to pull out a 9-5 win over the Cowboys.

Alabama right fielder Owen Diodati, who hit a two-run, eighth inning home run in Saturday’s game to tie it at 3-3, came up big again on Sunday with a one out, sixth-inning grand slam to turn a 5-4 lead into a 9-4 advantage. That came one inning after Zane Denton, Saturday’s hero with his walk-off home run, hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning to put his team up 5-4 through five innings.

Brody Strahan (0-1) took the loss out of the bullpen, giving up two runs in the fifth inning as Alabama went ahead 5-4 after the Cowboys went up 4-3 in the top of the fifth.

The Cowboys struck first with a run in the second inning after Jake Dickerson (BB) and Whelton (single) reached to lead off the inning. Dickerson advanced to third on Whelton’s single. Julian Gonzales laid down a perfectly placed sacrifice bunt to score Dickerson and put the Cowboys up 1-0.

Alabama tied it in the bottom of the 2nd then scored two runs in the fourth to go up 3-1.

McNeese retook the lead in the top of the fifth with three, two-out runs to go up 4-3. Payton Harden got things going with his first hit on the season, an infield single to the pitcher. Fisbeck followed with a double down the left field line to score Harden and cut the Alabama lead to 3-2. Clayton Rasbeary tied things at 3-3 with an RBI single to right field that scored Fisbeck. Tré Obregon kept the rally going with an RBI double to score Rasbeary and put McNeese on top 4-3.

Alabama went back on top in the bottom of the inning when Zane Denton, who hit the walk-off home run in Saturday’s game, popped a two-out home run to left field to put the Crimson Tide up 5-4.

Diodati’s grand slam in the sixth added to the lead to make it 9-4 before McNeese attempted another two-out rally in the eighth inning.

Dickerson and Whelton both reached after getting hit by a pitch in consecutive at bats. Nate Collins then got a pinch-hit single to load the bases and Jordan Yeatts followed to draw a pinch-hit walk to score Dickerson and make it a 9-5 game. The rally ended after Alabama brought in a new pitcher and got Collins to groundout to shortstop.McNeese Baseball