Alabama Baseball 'Had No Chance' Against Cord Rager in College World Series

OMAHA, Neb. — Alabama baseball waited 27 years to get back to the College World Series. The Crimson Tide will wait a bit longer to make an impact on the scoreboard at Charles Schwab Field as Oklahoma dominated the opening game, shutting out Alabama 9-0 on Saturday behind a massive effort by Sooners freshman pitcher Cord Rager.

"Obviously, he kind of missed some time there in the middle," Alabama coach Rob Vaughn said. "We didn't see him when we went to their place. And it felt like you kind of saw that show up for our guys a little bit. And I really felt like after the first time through the order, we can make that adjustment to the heater. I really thought we would.

"I watched that guy one-hit Kansas last weekend. And he just has continued to get better. Hines kind of started timing it up a little bit. Even his first at-bat, he missed a couple. But as the at-bat went, he saw him timing it up, timing it up, timing it up, and then he did a good job of mixing the changeup on him, kind of that third at-bat. That's a good arm. That's a good arm."

The Crimson Tide didn't get their first hit in Omaha until the fifth inning as Rager established control from the jump, never letting the Alabama batters feel comfortable. His dominance was most evident against Alabama's best batters. Rager held the Crimson Tide's top four batters in the order to just two hits in 16 at-bats, and collected six of his eight strikeouts off of Bryce Fowler, Justin Lebron, Brady Neal, and Jason Torres.

"He was good, man," Neal said. "He was really good. That's a really good freshman. It's my fourth year in the league, and that guy had good stuff. That guy's real. That's part of the SEC, man. You're going to come around, and you're going to see those types of guys. That's just part of it. It's all about how we bounce back."

Rager missed time in April with a muscle injury, causing him to miss the regular season series against the Crimson Tide. He returned in the middle of the month and has been on an upward trajectory ever since. The left-hander gave up three runs in his regional start against the Citadel, but now has back-to-back NCAA Tournament shutouts as he helped them defeat Kansas in the Super Regional and Alabama in the College World Series.

Vaughn alluded to his improvement throughout the year, noting he wasn't the same pitcher the Crimson Tide coaches scouted in the regular season.

"I mean, I'm definitely not the same pitcher I was," Rager said. "So it's definitely good that they probably saw the old me, the guy who was still learning during the SEC play. And throughout SEC play, you learn so much, and especially as a freshman, I've just really learned so much, especially going into the postseason. And now I'm kind of finding the good mixture, and I'm able to keep guys off balance. And I'm not getting ambushed anymore. And always working on the process."

Rager gave Oklahoma his longest outing of the season as he cruised in the five-hit shutout effort. Alabama failed to get a bead on him throughout the day as the Crimson Tide got the leadoff man on base safely just once throughout the afternoon.

"Just get the lead-off guy out," Rager said of his approach to the game. "I watched the other games. I saw guys were kind of letting the environment get the best of them. I just tried to stay calm, get strike one, get lead-off outs. And that's the process for me."

The Alabama batters credited Rager's command and control, but lamented that they didn't take advantage of the few mistakes the freshman made.

"I think it was the fact that he didn't miss middle very often, and when he did, we didn't punch him for it," Lebron said. "So for a pitcher to go out there and live on the edges, it's tough as a hitter, and we just didn't execute well."

Rager established his dominance with the fastball early, but did a good job mixing up his stuff to keep the Alabama batters off balance. The freshman credited his curveball as the key to keeping the Crimson Tide off balance throughout the day.

"Yeah, location's always something you work on," Rager said. "I've always been good with location. And knowing I had my curveball today, which my curveball was on today. And to get those hitters out without having to change really -- it was the back foot curve, it worked well for me today. And I could rely on it, and I had the location with it. I just had a good feel with it today."

Oklahoma catcher Deiten LaChance busted the game wide open with a two-run home run in the sixth inning, but couldn't help but deflect praise onto his starting pitcher after the pair propelled the Sooners into Monday's winner's bracket game.

"I mean, when he's on the mound, you definitely have the chance to win, no matter who you face," LaChance said. "I mean, you can put the Yankees in front of me, I don't mind. I mean, it's fun. You can watch the game. Cord was just attacking them. They had no chance. It was awesome."

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Twitter/X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Threads and Blue Sky for the latest news.

Alabama Crimson Tide On SI

Add us as a preferred source on Google