Brad Bohannon's Message to Alabama Baseball: 'You Just Gotta Take It'
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — As the saying goes, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Right now for Alabama baseball, it's time for the team to get tough.
This past weekend, the Crimson Tide dropped two of its three games to the Mississippi State Bulldogs, bringing its SEC record to 4-8 on the season. Heading into the game, the Bulldogs possessed a 1-8 conference record, which was tied for worst in the SEC. Now, after the weekend of play, Alabama is ahead of them by just one game.
In the past when the Crimson Tide was going through a tough stretch, head coach Brad Bohannon's message was typically one related to the 'Just go play' mentality. During his press conference on Monday morning, though, Bohannon said that having the players go and play out their issues is not his message this time around.
"Not really," Bohannon said. "That is a consistent theme with us but, like, I'm going to talk to the kids today — sometimes you just gotta go take it. I think if you go into the Mississippi State series and if somebody said, "Hey, you're gonna throttle 'em pretty good once and the other two games are gonna be tied in the seventh,' if you had told me that on Wednesday, I'd have been like, 'Hey, I'll take that.' You know?
"I think the next step for this group is in the middle of the game when you have a chance to create some separation, we gotta do it. When you get in the advantage counts — 0-2, 1-2 — you gotta put some hitters away. Obviously we're really close. We've got a lot of good pieces. I still really believe in this team, but we need to go take it."
This week, Alabama will host Southern Miss (6 p.m. CT, SEC Network+) on Tuesday before taking on Auburn at home in a three-game conference series this weekend. The Golden Eagles are never an easy team to beat in the world of college baseball — Southern Miss has won six of its last eight meetings with Alabama, including the two most recent — and the Tigers will be fighting tooth and nail as they possess the same 4-8 SEC record as the Crimson Tide.
If Alabama baseball wants to be playing in Hoover and beyond, this weekend's series can be the beginning of turning things around or the start of a downward spiral.
"You hate saying this in early April but this is a huge week coming up for us," Bohannon said. "We're not gonna skirt away from it, not gonna run from it. It starts tomorrow night with Southern Miss. [...] You need to get the week started the right way tomorrow night and then obviously go on into a big weekend with Auburn coming in town — and not just because it's an in-state rival but we're both in the same spot.
"We're both 4-8 in league play and we both need some league wins so I know they're going to come in being really hungry and I know that we'll do the same. It's a big weekend for a lot of reasons."
See Also:
Evaluating Alabama's Struggles on the Diamond: Just a Minute
Bullpen Blows Another Lead, Alabama Baseball Drops Crucial Series Against Mississippi State
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