Did Alabama Baseball Clinch Hosting an NCAA Regional? Just A Minute
Did the University of Alabama baseball team lock down hosting a regional next week in the NCAA Tournament?
There's no way of knowing for sure what the selection committee is thinking, but it's certainly looking more and more likely.
The prevailing thought was that the Crimson Tide would have an excellent chance to host if it had a good final couple of weeks in the regular season, plus a decent showing in the SEC Tournament.
It's exceeded those requirements by winning a crucial series on the road at Texas A&M, swept Ole Miss, and then on Tuesday evening sent Kentucky home early from Hoover, Ala. (4-0).
It was also aided by Tennessee being shut out by Texas A&M in another first-round game, as the Volunteers have certainly been in the mix as well. That's important because the conference can really only have so many schools host, and Florida, Arkansas, LSU and Vanderbilt appear to be already set. So the committee is probably looking at having four more, with South Carolina obviously a strong possibility, and Auburn also charging hard.
Remember, the difference between Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee in the final SEC standings was just one game. The tournament could be crucial when splitting the necessary hairs.
Prior to the start of the SEC Tournament, DIBaseball had Alabama hosting as the No. 14-overall seed. Baseball America had it heading to Miami.
The Crimson Tide's RPI was No. 12 heading into the Kentucky win, while the Wildcats were second overall. UK was also ahead of Alabama in the tournament projections as well, as D1Baseball had it as the No. 9 seed.
But Kentucky, like Tennessee, is already done, and has to sit and watch Alabama, Auburn and South Carolina play through the double-elimination part of the bracket.
The guess here is that the Crimson Tide might have already done enough to host a regional, but with one more win the concession stands at Sewell-Thomas Stadium can start their prep work to handle a full house next weekend.
Alabama's NCAA Tournament Resume
The Crimson Tide is 39-17 overall, 16-14 in league play during the regular season.
• Alabama is riding a six-game winning streak, and won nine of its last 11 games, all under interim head coach Jason Jackson.
• The Crimson Tide was the only team to be in the top three for both hitting and pitching in the SEC. Alabama was third in hitting, behind only top-five LSU and Florida, while ranking second in pitching behind just Tennessee.
• It led the league in run differential at plus-48, one better than Arkansas. The Crimson Tide totaled 191 runs while allowing a league-low 143.
• Alabama led the league in five separate pitching categories (ERA, runs allowed, earned runs allowed, opposing batting average and hits allowed), while ranking third in walks allowed.
SEE ALSO: Alabama Baseball Moves On in SEC Tournament with Win Over Kentucky
