Alabama Baseball Poised, Ready Ahead of SEC Play
Last season was a landmark year for the Alabama baseball program, and it was jumpstarted by the way the Crimson Tide finished off league play.
Alabama didn't lose an SEC series once the calendar flipped from April to May, also collecting multiple victories in Hoover, Ala., at the conference tournament. Once 2023 was in the books, the Crimson Tide had posted a winning conference record for the first time in nearly a decade, as well as hosting an NCAA regional for the first time in almost two.
Things look different in Tuscaloosa this time around. Rob Vaughn is now in the midst of his first season as head coach. Through 17 games, Alabama is 15-2, ranked 14th in the D1Baseball poll. The only losses are to Dallas Baptist and Southern Miss.
On Friday, the Crimson Tide is set to do battle with the No. 5 Tennessee Volunteers for the first time since the 2022 campaign. It will be the first SEC series with Vaughn at the helm. "There's a lot of good teams in college baseball, and we know the SEC's obviously different," right fielder Evan Sleight said. "We're gonna take it one pitch at a time, and try to execute at the highest level possible, and we're gonna take it from there."
Sleight, the team captain upon whom the jersey No. 3, representing toughness, ownership and grit, was bestowed, has been one of this unit's key players. The Rutgers transfer hit a home run and a bases-clearing triple during the midweek loss against Southern Miss on Tuesday, a game Vaughn said his squad needed to experience.
"[Tennessee is] tough, they're competitive, they've got power arms and power hitters, and they play with an edge," said Vaughn, who was recruited out of high school by Volunteers head coach Tony Vitello. "I think [it's] no different than what we do. I think our offense has an edge to it, I think it's a lot of dangerous guys in that lineup. I think we've got enough power on the mound... That's what the SEC is. That's why we're here."
The offense has, indeed, been productive up and down the lineup. The top two hitters, Gage Miller and TJ McCants, each have double-digit hit streaks going. Miller leads the team with eight home runs. McCants has six. Sleight has strung together quality at-bats since shifting to the cleanup spot last weekend. Meanwhile, veteran second baseman Bryce Eblin has hit the ball well at the bottom of the order, as has freshman shortstop Justin Lebron. Eblin is one of only a few offensive returners from last season and has a 1.168 OPS with four home runs in 16 starts. Catcher Mac Guscette, a Florida transfer with plenty of SEC experience, has the third-highest batting average on the team.
Despite losing right-hander Riley Quick to injury following his very first 2024 start, the pitching staff has put together good outings from starters and the bullpen. Junior Ben Hess, slotted in the ace role, has impressed Vaughn and his teammates thus far. Louisville transfer Greg Farone has answered the bell when his number is called, delivering strong outings and embracing the multiple changes that have come his way since the season began. He gets the ball and the chance to duel against Drew Beam this Saturday.
Out of the bullpen, sophomore closer Alton Davis II seeks to build on an electric first season. He has seen action this spring and was even ready to go had the Crimson Tide's rally against Southern Miss continued. Junior Braylon Myers has delivered solid innings.
Some of the other names instrumental in early bullpen work are, but are not limited to, freshman Alabama native Matthew Heiberger (who sat down five straight Dallas Baptist hitters on strikes), Wofford transfer Coulson Buchanan, Texas transfer Pierce George and fellow freshman Austin Morris. Hagan Banks, a junior, is back after an early-season absence. He will start on Sunday but could make appearances in multiple capacities throughout this run, as could Aidan Moza, who pitched out of the pen last season. George has touched triple digits with his fastball.
"We're still learning these guys a little bit," Vaughn said Sunday after his team swept Lipscomb. "As a staff, we weren't as dominant, and I think that's okay. I actually think that's a good thing because they had to compete through those things... That's how you grow. You don't grow through pretty all the time. You grow through the challenges, and the ups and the downs." Those moments are important for higher-leverage situations which occur on a frequent, almost nightly basis in conference play.
The last time Alabama and Tennessee met on the baseball diamond, the Crimson Tide won the series opener in Knoxville then dropped the next two games of a very emotional and, at times, intense series. That Tennessee team was incredibly good. Last season's Volunteers team made the College World Series.
A schedule including a full-on SEC slate is unforgiving. However, some of Alabama's toughest matchups are slated to take place on home field at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. Those series include Arkansas (which currently tops the D1Baseball poll), No. 8 Florida, LSU, No. 4 Texas A&M and more. Last season's Arkansas series was when Hess was lost for the year. He'll get things started on the mound against Tennessee on Friday night, coming into his own with high fastball velocity and strong secondary offerings. Florida was the first team to beat Alabama at the Hoover Met last summer, doing so in extra innings on a walk-off to cap a three-run comeback. The Gators' current roster features one Colby Shelton, who last season set a new freshman home run record at the Capstone.
In second behind Arkansas is LSU. That series isn't until May, but the stories write themselves. Amongst the stacked stable of Tiger arms are two former Alabama names: Luke Holman and Kade Woods. Holman anchored the Crimson Tide's pitching staff last spring after it was decimated by injuries. Without him, there's no certainty that team reaches the high points it did. Though the LSU hurlers are well-stocked with talent, Holman might be the one to find himself squaring off opposite Hess in the first matchup of that weekend set.
The other ranked opponent on the home schedule is No. 20 South Carolina, which is 13-3 and in a region with no small number of ranked teams. The two Carolinas have nine teams in the D1Baseball top 25 as of this writing. Road tests include Georgia, Kentucky and the two Mississippi teams. Mississippi State and Ole Miss went back-to-back as national title winners in 2021 and 2022. The final conference series of the regular season takes place at Auburn, which has two College World Series appearances in the past half-decade. The Tigers were the Crimson Tide's first SEC series win in 2023.
"I've been talking with some of the guys about stillness," left fielder Ian Petrutz said. "If we can just continue to play a faceless opponent and try to get better, individually and as a unit, every single pitch, every single game, [we'll] be just fine. This team is so special. The talent we have is off the charts."
Petrutz foresees a fun season running out there with his teammates every day. "This team... [has] shown up every single day," Vaughn said. "They've rang the bell, they've competed. We've fallen short two times, but it's not out of a lack of effort. It's not out of a lack of focus. It's not out of taking things for granted." There's no secret, Vaughn added, that the SEC is a gauntlet. His group, though, is battle-tested, ready and excited to go.
