Nola, only a sophomore, has already equalled the win total he had last season, and advances to a 14-4 record for his LSU career
Last night's 3-hit complete game shutout was the first complete game shutout of Nola's career and the first by an LSU pitcher in SEC play since Kevin "The Great" Gausman did it in 2011 Nola's complete games this weekend and last were: -the first complete game of Nola's career -the first complete game by an LSU pitcher since Kevin "The Great" Gausman did it last season -the first back-to-back complete games by an LSU pitcher since Kevin "The Great" Gausman did it last season vs Vandy and South Carolina “He’s (Nola) been amazing,” said LSU head coach Paul Mainieri . “Just watching the growth of the guy is amazing to watch. He has always been a strike- throwing machine, but now he throws a little bit harder, his curveball is a little tighter and his changeup is deceptive.” "Aaron Nola just pitched so great” last night
A Huntsville Times reporter in Tuscaloosa for A Day wrote this just before 2pm today: "The sky is bright blue with no clouds anywhere. It's 65 degrees on an immaculate spring day. A perfect day"
From AL.com on the weather @Alabama: The evening forecast calls for mostly clear skies and an overnight low around 44, the cooler temperatures coming thanks to a storm predicted for Thursday night and Friday morning. You should enjoy the rest of your A-Day weekend with another pretty day on Sunday, with sunny skies and a high near 73.
Alabama head coach after last night's game: “Aaron Nola was outstanding tonight; I certainly tip my cap to him,” Alabama coach Gaspard said. “This is the third Friday night starter we’ve seen that has an elite arm and that has been a real challenge. Scoring runs is a step that I think our club has got to make and we’ve got to find a way to generate some offense against a really good pitcher like the one we saw in Nola.” “We are going to see another good one tomorrow in Ryan Eades, that is very similar to what we saw here tonight,” Gaspard said. “Offensively we’ve got to find a way to get some guys out there to create some opportunities.”
Comments from Bama fans after last night: Another shutout. Three hits. How shocking. For those of you who like to keep up with records, I believe that tonight's game tied the 1975 team's all-time record for most times being shut out in a season with 8. No surprise that the offense got manhandled by a good starting pitcher. Unfortunately it probably happens again tonight. A message for those of us who care about Bama baseball- time to start writing Bill Battle and the Board of Trustees endless letters and e-mails letting them know that this needs to be fixed. There is NO reason for a Bama baseball team to be this weak offensively. Pitching and defense are pretty good. An investment has got to be made- and I am talking coaching staff changes AND stadium enhancments. It is really just ridiculous what kind of tips do you figure our hitting coach gave our hitters before they stepped up to bat? Based on the way that we hit, I would say it was something on the lines of "Close your eyes and swing real hard." I believe that makes 7 or 8 games we haven't scored a run this season. The pitching and defense have been encouraging!
Tonites' starting pitcher for Bama... LHP Justin Kamplain (soph)...holding opponent batters to a .176 batting avg this season and .236 for his career at Bama (81.2 innings pitched). Out of high school, he was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals and was the Alabama 5A Player of the Year Last year as a freshman, he went 7.0 innings vs LSU and held LSU to 3 runs Last week, vs Ole Miss, he went 5.2 innings (88 pitches), and only allowed 2 hits (he held Ole Miss to a .125 batting avg), walked 4, and gave up 2 runs
Top 1 Hawthorne pointing out how the A Day game has swelled Bama crowd tonight, and the sound a lot more rowdy today on radio Kamplain knocks LSU down 1, 2 Hawthorne: "he throws with a lot of velocity" BOSS ROCKETS A DOUBLE TO LEFT CENTER.....NOW HE'S TRYING TO TAKE THIRD! ! ! SAFE ! ! ! THE BOSS TRIPLES ! ! ! Hawthorne:."Incredible! Aggressive base-running by Bregman"
