Alabama Vs. Auburn Baseball Tuesday

One thing that Alabama fans and Auburn fans can agree on is that every time the Tide goes up against the Tigers in anything, it is important. That’s why the Crimson Tide baseball team would like to end the domination of the Tigers in the Max Capital City Classic baseball game. But it's not as important as later conference competition.

Alabama will meet Auburn in the fifth meeting of the classic at 7 p.m. CST Tuesday at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery. Both teams are 8-3 this year. Auburn has won the four previous meetings in the event.

One fortunate aspect of that record from an Alabama standpoint is that the game does not count in Southeastern Conference competition. Last year Bama lost 8-3 in Montgomery, but in the games that counted the Tide swept the Tigers, ranked 23rd in the nation before the series.

Tuesday’s game will mark the 268th all-time baseball meeting between the two schools. Alabama holds a 146-121 advantage in the series.

The teams will meet again for three games in SEC play in Auburn March 28-30.

The Tide opened the season with a 6-0 start, before dropping three of its last five games. Alabama is coming off a 2-2 week that included a 5-4 win over Samford on Tuesday, before dropping two of three games at home to Tulane on the weekend. Auburn opened the year with a 6-1 start, before suffering losses to Kennesaw State (9-2) and Eastern Illinois (11-10). The Tigers finished the series against EIU with 14-7 and 8-2 wins to capture their second series of the year.

Alabama will start sophomore left-hander Taylor Guilbeau (1-0 with a 2.61 earned run average) against Auburn junior right-hander Dillon Ortman (0-1, 2.70).

Prior to the game both teams will have a collection of players and staff shaving their heads in support of the Vs. Cancer Foundation to help fight childhood cancer. Both teams encourage fans to show their support by making a donation online at www.maxcapitalcityclassic.com and at the game on Tuesday night. The money raised will benefit the Vs. Cancer Foundation, the Children’s Hospital of Alabama and research efforts at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Following Tuesday’s game against Auburn, the Crimson Tide will travel to Louisville, Ky., for a three game series against the nationally ranked Louisville Cardinals this weekend. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT, from Jim Patterson Stadium. First pitch for the Saturday and Sunday games will be at Noon CT. Louisville is ranked fifth in the Baseball America top-25 poll, 14th by Perfect Game USA, 19th in the Collegiate Baseball poll, and No. 20 in the USA Today Sports Coaches’ and the NCBWA polls.