Alabama SS Jim Jarvis makes incredible SportsCenter Top 10-caliber sliding catch vs. Mizzou

No fly ball is getting past Jim Jarvis. The Alabama shortstop continued his stellar season of defense with a catch that you have to see to believe.

Missouri‘s Ross Lovich hit a fly ball in third base foul territory, and after analyzing the situation realized that the Crimson Tide’s third baseman Colby Shelton wasn’t going to be able to make the play. Literally sliding in to make the catch, Jarvis times his leap almost perfectly just before the ball hit the ground.

What’s even more impressive was that Shelton was in front of Jarvis, unintentionally blocking him trying to make the play. Instead of letting the ball fall foul and replaying the 1-2 count at the plate, Alabama logged the early out on a very impressive play.

B2 | Another game, another #SCTop10 play from Jimmy 👀#RollTide pic.twitter.com/0mGATHFm6f

— Alabama Baseball (@AlabamaBSB) April 23, 2023

Catch Sunday’s series finale live on SECN+ as Alabama looks to head back to Tuscaloosa with a sweep over the Tigers.

Next up for the Tide is a mid-week meeting against Samford at home before travelling to No. 1 LSU for a three-game weekend series beginning on Friday. The Samford and LSU games will all be available on SECN+ as well.

More on Alabama’s baseball season

At 28-12 overall on the season, most of the Crimson Tide’s woes have come against SEC opponents, sitting at 8-9 in conference play heading into Sunday. That puts them squarely in the middle of the SEC West behind LSU, Arkansas and Texas A&M, respectively.

Before Alabama’s 2-1 series win over Auburn last weekend, the Crimson Tide didn’t have a single series win in conference play this season. They’re now 4-1 in their last five SEC matchups, but suffered a heartbreaking upset defeat at the hands of in-state foe UAB.

If the season ended today, they would earn a seven-seed in the SEC Tournament and would not earn a bid into the NCAA Tournament, according to the latest 64-team projections from D1Baseball.com. Series with the likes of LSU and Vanderbilt coming up before the end of the regular season will be huge opportunities to add to the Crimson Tide’s resume ahead of the postseason. Losses there would force Alabama to either win the SEC Tournament or go home.

The 2023 SEC Baseball Tournament is scheduled for May 23 through May 28 at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex in Hoover, Alabama. They’ll hope to use some sort of home-state and home-field advantage to to their benefit, but the odds aren’t currently in their favor.