How to Watch Alabama Baseball vs. Miami in Hattiesburg Regional

Alabama baseball's last two NCAA Tournament appearances have a common denominator. Friday's Hattiesburg Regional opener against No. 3-seed Miami will be the Crimson Tide's third straight tournament game against a team from the state of Florida.

The Crimson Tide, the No. 2 seed, played UCF and Stetson in the Tallahassee Regional last season and lost both games. The Hurricanes (31-24) exited the ACC Tournament in their first contest. Alabama was 1-1 last week in Hoover at its conference tournament.

Friday's game at Pete Taylor Park will be nationally televised on ESPN2. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT. No starting pitcher has been officially announced for either side. No. 16 national seed Southern Miss, which Alabama (41-16) beat in April, is the regional host.

This is Miami's first tournament berth during the tenure of J.D. Arteaga as head coach. Arteaga and Crimson Tide coach Rob Vaughn are both in year two as their teams' manager, but Arteaga has been with the Hurricanes program for more than 20 years; he also played at Miami in the 1990s.

Crimson Tide third baseman Jason Torres played for Arteaga last season, manning the other corner infield spot at first base for the Hurricanes. He appeared in 39 of a possible 57 contests and saw a promising campaign derailed by injury problems.

The victor between Alabama and Miami, in addition to securing a place in the winners' bracket, will play Saturday night against whichever squad wins between Southern Miss and Columbia (Friday at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN+).

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