Tommy Seidl powers Alabama to 7-4 win, eliminating rival Auburn from SEC Tournament

Alabama bounced back from a brutal 11th-inning loss to Florida on Wednesday night with a little rivalry romp over Auburn at the SEC Tournament on Thursday.

Left fielder Tommy Seidl should have been the hero on Wednesday night after hitting a three-run double to put Alabama up 6-3 on Florida in the 11th inning, but the Crimson Tide couldn’t hold on. Seidl didn’t seem to let it bother him Thursday against the Tigers.

The redshirt senior nearly hit for the cycle as Alabama eliminated Auburn with a 7-4 win.

“We’re just building confidence,” Seidl said in a postgame interview with SEC Network on the field after the game. “Last night was a tough game but we’re just seeing it as battles that lead up to the bigger war. We just know we’re battle-tested. Every failure we’re just learning how to win. So this team’s just competing, putting our nose down and grinding out wins.”

Seidl was superb and quickly helped Alabama wash the bad taste out of its mouth at the SEC Tournament. In the second at-bat of the game for the Crimson Tide he launched a home run to left center field to open an early lead.

He’d go on to hit a single and a double, as well, finishing just a triple short of the cycle. And that on a short day’s work.

Seidl left the game in the fourth inning after tweaking something on a trip to home plate earlier in the day. He finished 3-for-3 at the plate with two RBI and two runs scored.

“I’m feeling all right,” Seidl said. “Just on that slide home on the tag-up I just felt something a little bit and felt something tighten up. So we were just playing it safe. We know we have (William Hamiter). We’ve got eight guys on the bench that deserve to play that we all know can go out there and get the job done. So we just trust them to go in and get it done.”

He admitted not being able to chase the cycle with five innings left to play at the SEC Tournament was tough.

“You definitely want that, but I just trust Hammy,” he said. “We trust everybody that’s going to come in there and help us get the win.”

All in all, it was a pretty successful day for Alabama. The Crimson Tide knocked off its arch-rival to send it packing from Hoover, while advancing to the final day of double-elimination play at the SEC Tournament.

“We’re just continuing to build confidence, putting together good at-bats and throwing strikes,” Seidl said. “That’s what it’s all about, just playing clean baseball going into the postseason.”