NEW ORLEANS -- Alabama earned the chance to play again in the New Orleans regional.
The weather gave them a chance to rest first.
Morrow Thomley hit a two-run homer to keep Alabama alive with a 4-3 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette in the third round of the New Orleans NCAA regional.
The victory earned Alabama (40-22) a second shot at No. 1 seed Tulane. The Crimson Tide, which beat Lafayette-Louisiana in the first round, lost to Tulane on Saturday. Alabama and Tulane were supposed to play Sunday night, but heavy rain forced the game to be postponed until 1 p.m. Monday.
With the Tide facing three straight games, the extra day will provide some much needed rest, especially for the pitchers.
"We were preparing for Trey Shields to start tonight's game, right now we'll probably stick to that for Monday," Alabama coach Jim Wells said. "Then we'll piece it together after that. Guys who couldn't throw today could help you out and throw tomorrow. Everyone who has pitched could contribute some way."
Tulane spent most of the day waiting and watching the often delayed Alabama-ULL game.
"Everybody gets an extra day of rest," Tulane coach Rick Jones said. "But it will still come down to what happens on the field."
Alabama hasn't won three straight since a four-game winning streak April 17-23. And Tulane (52-9) hasn't lost two straight since March 11-12 against Cal-State Fullerton.
Louisiana-Lafayette (48-19) finished the season just one win shy of matching a team record for victories.
Both teams had seven hits, but the Tide had the big ones.
Alabama took a 2-0 lead on Thomley's fourth-inning home run to left field. The Tide added two more in the fifth inning on a double by Allen Rice and a sacrifice fly by Evan Bush to make it 4-0.
Louisiana-Lafayette cut the lead to 4-2 on a homer by Dallas Morris in the bottom of the sixth.
The Cajuns' only other run was a ninth-inning home run by Justin Morgan.
"We're not a good come from behind team," ULL coach Tony Robichaux said.
The game had weather problems from the start and was delayed for 22 minutes by rain. Play was stopped in the bottom of the fifth by lightning then delayed an hour and 36 minutes by rain.
The Cajuns suffered from a lack of pitching throughout the regional with their top two either struggling or injured.
In the opener ULL tried to get help from their ace Kevin Ardoin. But Ardoin, who had struggled in his last four starts before the regional, gave up two singles, a two-run homer, had two wild pitches and hit a batter before making a hasty exit.
On Sunday, Austin Faught, the Sun Belt pitcher of the year, started for the Cajuns. He had not thrown from the mound for nine days because of a sore elbow in his throwing arm. He had thrown on Saturday, however, and thought he'd be able to pitch. He worked for two innings, struck out three of the six batters he faced, then was forced to leave when the elbow tightened up.
"He came to me and said he felt a little pulling," Robichaux said. "We sent him out in the second and said if it continued we'd make a decision. He came back after the second and said the pulling was still there, so we agreed to take him out."
Alabama used three pitchers. T.J. Large started and was replaced by Matt Downs (2-0) in the fifth. Jordan Davis came on in the ninth to close out the game, earning his third save of the year.
Jered Salazar (6-3) was the loser.
