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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama football team returned from spring break on Monday and resumed spring practice with a two-hour session in shorts and helmets at the Thomas-Drew Practice Facility.

Monday’s workout was the second of 15 spring practices that warps up with the 2012 A-Day Game at Bryant-Denny Stadium on April 14.

“It was great to get back on the practice field,” Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron said on Monday. “I thought the offense got back to business fairly quickly. We ran into some speed bumps along the way today, but I thought we fought through any adversity. Guys are catching on to things and you can see everyone progressing during these first two practices.”

The Alabama Coaching Clinic begins on Thursday and will have another outstanding lineup of speakers in 2012, including two of championship coaches from the college and pro level in Lou Holtz and Bill Parcells. The clinic will also hear from two current NFL coordinators in Bill Musgrave (Offensive Coordinator – Minnesota) and John Pagano (Defensive Coordinator – San Diego), as well as John Bonamego, who coaches special teams for the Jaguars and former NFL special teams coordinator Gary Zauner.

A pair of Alabama alums will be on hand as Mickey Andrews (former Florida State defensive coordinator) and Bobby Humphrey (1989 NFL first round pick by Denver) are scheduled to speak. We will also hear from the champion high school coaches in sessions on Friday and Saturday.

“We have got a lot of really, really good speakers coming to our clinic,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said. “Our clinic is the one way we can serve the high school coaches and give back professionally the most that we possibly can by having a quality clinic, and spending as much time as we possibly can (with the coaches).”

Alabama will return to the practice field on Wednesday for the third workout of the spring. The Tide will also practice on Friday and Saturday to close out the week.

Follow breaking news on the Crimson Tide on Facebook at Alabama-Football and on Twitter at @AlabamaFTBL.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -

The University of Alabama Athletic Ticket Office has announced ticket information and availability for the Crimson Tide’s upcoming NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The Tide is scheduled to face Creighton on March 16 at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C.  The Tide and Bluejays will meet at 12:40 p.m. CDT with the contest being broadcast by TBS.

The Athletic Ticket Office is currently accepting ticket requests from University of Alabama season ticket holders, UA Alumni Association members, and all other groups immediately associated with the University of Alabama.

NCAA ticket requests will be taken until Monday, March 12 at 5 p.m.  All ticket requests will be confirmed by Tuesday, March 13 after 5 p.m. via e-mail.
 
The University of Alabama receives a maximum allotment of 550 tickets.  A portion of these tickets must be used to accommodate the ticket needs of the official travel party, University administration, player guests, etc.  As a result of this small allotment, customers will only be able to request up to two tickets per customer.

The University of Alabama only receives tickets for the sessions which they participate in. Tickets are $70 per session.

Men’s basketball season ticket holders may go online beginning Sunday, March 11 after 7 p.m. to request NCAA tickets.  Season ticket holders must login to their online account prior to requesting tickets to have access to make their request.

Fans may also request tickets via phone or at the ticket office windows in Coleman Coliseum beginning at 8 a.m. on Monday, March 12.

All ticket requests will be subjected to review by Tide Totals Priority Points and affiliation with the University of Alabama.  If demand exceeds supply of tickets, all requests will be allocated by priority points.

University of Alabama students may also request tickets.

All NCAA ticket requests must be picked up in person at Greensboro Coliseum by the name on the order.  Will Call information will be emailed to customers once exact pick up times and locations have been finalized later this week.

The Athletic Ticket Office hours this week are Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.  Please contact the ticket office at ticketoffice@ia.ua.edu or (205) 348-2262 with any questions.

The Crimson Tide is the number 9 seed in the Midwest Regional.

The winner of the Alabama-Creighton game will likely face North Carolina.  The Tar Heels are the number 1 seed, and, will play the winner of the Lamar-Vermont “play-in” game.

With the Crimson Tide leading 2-1 heading into the ninth inning, the Golden Eagles loaded the bases against Jake Hubbard with one out. After Hubbard struck out Bennett Pickar for the second out, ORU was down to its last strike. Designated hitter Chris Williams snuck an 0-2, two-out grounder up the middle of the infield to plate pinch runner Brandon Healy and shortstop Nate Goro to put Oral Roberts in front, 3-2.

Three different Golden Eagle relievers combined to pitch a scoreless ninth inning to seal the win for ORU. Alabama got a leadoff single from Jon Kelton to open the ninth, but the Tide went down in order after the hit to drop its second game of the classic.

Alex Gonzalez (1-0) earned the victory for ORU, tossing 1.1 scoreless innings in relief of starter Kurt Giller (7.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 H and 5 Ks). Matt Rush struck out Kenny Roberts to end the game to pick up his second save of the season.

“We got a good game from Trey Pilkington today, he certainly pitched it well enough to win the game,” UA head coach Mitch Gaspard said. “We kind of broke down there in the ninth inning, with a few things, and still was a pitch away. I give their hitter a lot of credit, he did a good job with two strikes to fight the ball back through the middle.”

In his first career start, Alabama junior right hander Trey Pilkington tossed 6.0 innings, allowing just one run on four hits while striking out a career-high five batters. Freshman Jake Hubbard (2-1) took the loss for the Tide after allowing two runs, none of which were earned, in a ninth inning relief appearance.

Five different Alabama players registered a base knock on the day, including junior second baseman Kenny Roberts, who was had a run scored and one RBI. Senior first baseman, Jon Kelton reached base in two of his four plate appearances, totaling a 1-for-2 day with a single, a run, a walk and a sacrifice bunt.

“The story of the game to me is, offensively we continue to struggle,” Gaspard said. “We were not aggressive enough, we’re taking too many pitches and have too many strikeouts. We’ve got to get better offensively. That’s the area that creates energy. Anytime you aren’t hitting, you’re making yourself vulnerable in those spots for them to comeback late, like they did today”

After a scoreless opening three frames, Alabama got on the board in the bottom of the fourth to take a 1-0 lead. Kelton led off with a walk, then moved to second on single by shortstop Jared Reaves. After a sacrifice bunt by Cameron Carlisle moved the runners over, Roberts brought Kelton home from third with an RBI ground out.

Oral Roberts evened the score at 1-1 in the top of the sixth on Cam Schiller’s two-out double to the right field corner, before the Crimson Tide took the lead back in the following inning.

Roberts reached on a one-out single, moved to third on a Ben Moore single and scored on a pinch-hit sacrifice fly by Josh Rosecrans. Facing an 0-1 count, Rosecrans lifted a ball to right centerfield, deep enough to bring home the speedy Roberts, to make the score 2-1.

The Crimson Tide will host two midweek games, starting with Southern Mississippi on Tuesday, March 13 and Samford on Wednesday, March 14. Both games are set to start at 6:05 p.m. (CST).

Follow the Alabama Crimson Tide baseball team on Facebook at Alabama-Baseball and on Twitter at @AlabamaBSB.

Click on video player above to see video from today’s practice.

With the five-run loss to Auburn, the Tide has now lost all four meetings in the Capital City Classic. Alabama scored its three runs on eight hits, as Brett Booth led the Tide with two hits, a run scored and an RBI. Cameron Carlisle was 2-for-4, Taylor Dugas was 1-for-4 with an RBI, and Ben Moore was 1-for-3 with a triple and a run scored.

UA starting pitcher Spencer Turnbull (0-1) suffered the loss in his second career start. Turnbull lasted just 3.1 innings, allowing four runs on six hits with two walks and a career-high six strikeouts. Auburn starter Jon Luke Jacobs (3-0) earned the win after throwing 6.2 innings, allowing two runs on five hits with six strikeouts. Justin Bryant got his first save of the season as he threw the final 2.1 innings, allowing a run on three hits with three strikeouts. 

Auburn struck first, scoring three times in the first inning off Turnbull. A two-run single by Capital City Classic Most Valuable Player, Dan Glevenyak, drove in the first two, and Zach Alvord followed with an RBI single to make the score, 3-0.

Alabama answered with two runs in the third inning with an RBI single by Dugas to drive in Andrew Miller, who singled to open the inning. With runners on the corners, Dugas got out in a run-down trying to steal second, but Booth scored before Dugas was tagged out.

Auburn added one run in the fourth and fifth innings to extend its lead to 5-2. An RBI single by Ryan Tella gave the Tigers a two-run lead, and a one-out solo home run by Glevenyak in the fifth extended the lead to three runs again, 5-2. UA had a chance to cut away at the Tigers’ lead in the seventh, but Dugas grounded out to second with the bases loaded to end the threat.

The Tigers put the game out of reach by scoring three times in the eighth inning. A double by Tella drove in the first run, and then with the bases loaded, a fielding error and a walk pushed the final two runs of the game across for Auburn.

This weekend, Alabama will host the DRASH Alabama Baseball Tournament at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The six-game round robin event includes Oral Roberts, East Carolina and no. 20 Louisville. The event opens on Friday, with Louisville and Oral Roberts taking the field at 1 p.m. First pitch for Alabama and East Carolina on Friday is slated for 6:05 p.m. (CST).

Follow the Alabama Crimson Tide baseball team on Facebook at Alabama-Baseball and on Twitter at @AlabamaBSB.

Courtesy Alabama Athletic Media Relations

In his last game at Coleman Coliseum, senior forward JaMychal Green notched his 25th career double-double, scoring 15 points to go with 10 rebounds. Freshman guard Trevor Lacey added 10 points while freshmen guards Levi Randolph and Rodney Cooper chipped in seven points apiece.

Auburn (14-15, 4-11 SEC) was led by Kenny Gabriel, who had 10 points on the night.

“I think in the second half our guys’ ability to get to the free throw line and their ability to make some stops that we needed was the difference in the game,” UA head coach Anthony Grant said.

Auburn jumped out to a quick 10-4 lead over the first five minutes of action and held a 14-10 advantage at the 10:18 mark of the half. From there the Crimson Tide unleashed a 13-0 run that spanned just over eight minutes, to grab a 23-14 lead. During that stretch, the Alabama defense held Auburn to 0-of-5 shooting, while forcing four turnovers.  After the UA run, Auburn outscored the Tide 7-0 over the final minutes of the half to cut the Alabama lead to 23-21 at intermission.

Alabama pushed its advantage to 30-25 over the first three minutes of the second half until the Tigers used a 9-1 run to take a 36-33 lead at the 12:59 juncture. The lead changed hands three times over the next five minutes until Alabama slowly pulled away over the game’s final six-plus minutes.

With the game tied 43-43, a pair of free throws and a layup by junior guard Andrew Steele gave the Tide a four-point advantage with just under five minutes to play. The Tigers would cut the UA lead to two points on two separate occasions over the next three minutes of game time, but could get no closer.

Alabama closed out the game from the free-throw line connecting on 6-of-8 free throws over the final 1:23, complemented by a Green tip-in with 37 seconds remaining, to earn the victory.

Alabama closes out its regular-season slate Saturday, March 3 as it travels to Oxford, Miss. to take on the Mississippi Rebels. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. (CST).

Courtesy Alabama Athletic Media Relations