The first game of Greg Goff's tenure as Alabama's baseball coach featured the elements of the style he's promoting. There was hustle and grit, timely hitting, strong pitching and even alert play. All of it coalesced into victory, as the Crimson Tide defeated Presbyterian, 4-3, Friday in the season opener at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.

"A coach could never ask for any more than what we got tonight from our team," he said. "Hopefully, this will be start of something special."

Nick Eicholtz earned the win, throwing five innings before ceding the mound to Brock Love. Love never allowed a runner to cross the plate, picking up the save to complete an extended relief appearance.

Love was able to keep his ERA unblemished, in part, because Tide hitting coach Jake Wells intervened at a key moment in the seventh inning after Presbyterian's Guy Casaceli appeared to tie the score at four when Nick Guimbarda smacked a single into center field. On Casaceli's way home, Wells noticed the pinch runner did not touch third base.

Alabama then completed the putout with Casaceli in the dugout, preserving its one-run lead.

The pivotal sequence came after Alabama pulled in front on a pair of two-out hits by Chandler Avant and Cobie Vance in the fourth inning.

"We really take pride in being close to each other and going out and competing," Eicholtz said.

That was clear from the outset.

The first run of the Goff era had his fingerprints all over it. The coach who has cajoled his team to be more aggressive since being hired last June watched from the third-base coaching box as Avant singled to right-center field before stealing second base and then advancing to third after an errant throw from Presbyterian catcher Thatcher Coleman skipped away. Not long thereafter, Avant touched home plate on a fielder's choice.

It was small ball at its finest sprinkled with a pedal-to-the-floor style that Alabama flashed throughout its season opener.

"That's exactly what we do," Goff said "And you got to do those things whenever you're not hitting. You're not going to hit every day. And we've got to be able to score different ways. When you don't hit all the time, you got to really score and do those things, and I thought tonight our guys did a great job of generating offense."

At times, the Tide got a bit carried away like when Goff sent Chandler Taylor home on a groundball to third base, leading the cleanup hitter toward imminent doom before he was thrown out by several feet.

But Alabama was determined to push the envelope and make Presbyterian earn every run. Gene Wood made a diving catch in center field, robbing Guimbarda of a hit in the fifth inning. Later, Wells made his contribution from the dugout, wiping a consequential run for Presbyterian off the scoreboard.

"We wanted to get [Goff] his first win here," Eicholtz said. "We wanted to get our first win here and get started on the right track. And that's a good team. They're scrappy and they fight hard. But so are we."

Goff smiled.

It's just what he wanted to hear.

"I'm so thankful these guys have bought in to what we are doing," he said.