Rob Vaughn's Pillars Showing on the Diamond as Alabama Baseball Records Biggest Win of Season
TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Toughness. Ownership. Grit.
Those three terms are the pillars that Alabama baseball head coach Rob Vaughn is trying to instill into the program in his first year at the Capstone. And, just one month into the season, those pillars have shown on the diamond.
At the start of the season, the Crimson Tide looked like a force to be reckoned with, winning its first 11 games before suffering its first loss to Dallas Baptist in the Frisco Classic. During that win streak, Alabama recorded four shutouts.
Now, sitting at 16-3, Alabama has had a tougher time down the stretch, but has found ways to succeed. One of the key pieces to Vaughn’s pillars has been battling back from adversity, a skill that previous Alabama baseball teams have lacked.
This year, Alabama has come back after being down 4-0 against UAB and Arizona, 6-1 against Lipscomb, and had a back-and-forth offensive battle with Troy. Even in the team’s losses, fighting back was the only option. In the Crimson Tide’s 9-7 loss against Southern Miss, Alabama was down seven runs heading into the ninth inning, but tacked an additional five runs onto the board and got as close as the tying run being at the plate.
This weekend was no different.
On Friday, the Crimson Tide lost its SEC Opener to the No. 5 ranked Tennessee Volunteers, 11-3. Everything that could go wrong did and concern started to loom. However, on Saturday, the team was hot from the get-go, scoring all six of its runs in the first three innings which was enough for the victory.
Vaughn spoke on his pillars after the 6-3 win over Tennessee on Saturday night.
“We’ve got to keep growing but those three pillars of mine, the talent is there,” said Vaughn. “It’s can we be tough enough to take a punch, can we respond when things don’t go well, can we own the things we gotta get better at and can we have that passion and perseverance for where this group wants to go. These kids live that and I don’t think it’s eye-washed in them, I think it’s real, I think they believe it and I think they live that every day and you got a glimpse of that tonight.”
