Jacob McNairy Saves Best For Last, Helps Alabama Baseball to Supers
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Five.
That’s the number of first-inning runs Alabama starting pitcher Jacob McNairy watched cross the plate in the Crimson Tide’s SEC Tournament loss to Vanderbilt last month.
Now double that number. The resultant 10 still isn’t enough for the number of strikeouts McNairy tallied in his final game at Sewell-Thomas Stadium on Sunday night, a 7.2-inning, three-hit masterclass that shut down a Boston College lineup which scored 28 runs before the regional final. He finished having fanned 11 batters on a whopping 108 pitches.
It’s been a long journey at the Capstone for the Athens, Ala., native. He came back to Tuscaloosa for a fifth year despite hearing his name called by the Seattle Mariners in last summer’s MLB draft. His season-best start on Sunday was a catalyst for Alabama securing its first super regional berth since 2010. The performance was also a defining moment in his career, and of the season as a whole.
“To have a guy like Jacob McNairy on the mound, who’s been here five years… Grew up an Alabama fan, this is the only place he’s ever wanted to play. For him to get that ball in this game and have the outing that he did means a lot," said Alabama interim head coach Jason Jackson.
McNairy pitched himself into the starting rotation last season with a strong SEC slate. He began this season as the third starter, but some rough outings saw him return to the midweek starting role, where he’d been so good in the past. Good he was again- good enough to slide back into the No. 3 spot following injuries to Grayson Hitt and Ben Hess. And good he’s remained, in spite of the crooked number the Commodores hung on him. It was pivotal for him to rise to the occasion on Sunday, with so much on the line against the first team left out of host selections last Sunday evening.
All he did was make the Eagles, including a first baseman in Joe Vetrano who hit four home runs during the regional, seem hapless at the dish. In the end, one of the biggest games in recent memory for the Alabama baseball program was never really close. McNairy put up zero after zero. Boston College was faced with a daunting enough task as it was- a Sunday win would not have advanced it- but the Crimson Tide pitcher took any of those potential semantics completely out of the equation.
“This is what I came back for, to have a chance to make it to Omaha,” McNairy said. “We’re not done yet. Got to give credit to [catcher] Mac [Guscette]. I couldn’t be who I am without him. He’s calling the games. He steals a lot of strikes for me.”
“Goob’s a great guy,” Guscette said, referring to his pitcher by his nickname. “He goes out there and battles his tail off every day. I knew he was going to get a great start. He had everything working for him.” Guscette also told Jackson that McNairy was throwing harder on Sunday night.
And he got his curtain call. Jackson finally took the ball midway through the eighth inning, affording the regional crowd one last chance to shower a player who very likely became a program hero on Sunday night with cheers and applause.
“Thank you, Jacob,” could be heard emanating from the seats on the third base line as he embraced his teammates on his way into the dugout. Fans paid their respects to the veteran right-hander whose performance landed him on the Tuscaloosa Regional All-Tournament team (he struck out the MVP of that same all-tournament team).
“It was kind of emotional,” said McNairy. “I don’t really get that emotional a lot. The cheering was awesome, and I looked up in the stands, and this place has been great the past five years.”
Jackson said McNairy is a player whose team logo means so much to him, adding that opposing hitters would have to “fight, scratch and claw” to take one from him.
“Tonight, he was certainly getting in that groove,” said Jackson. “It was going to be hard to get him out of there, the way he was looking.”
Like McNairy said, Alabama isn’t done. The 43-19 Crimson Tide will travel to Winston-Salem, N.C., for the super regional round against Wake Forest. The action is set to get underway starting this Friday, with a weekend series to determine which of the two teams advances to hallowed ground in Omaha.
