Alabama baseball faces its biggest test yet this weekend, welcoming No. 5-ranked Auburn to town for the first time in the Rob Vaughn era.
“It will be a blast. We’ve been over to the Plains twice, so it’ll be good to get back here,” Vaughn said. “It’s why you come to this league… This is why you come to the SEC. For moments like this, regardless of what happens, this is why you show up.”
The Tigers are off to a 19-4 start on the season, but are coming off their first series loss of the season against No. 2-ranked Texas, which the Crimson Tide will play later this year in Austin. The Crimson Tide hasn’t won a series against the Tigers since 2023, and with the Tigers being a top 5 team in the nation, there is no better time than now to change that.
Pitching matchups:
The Crimson Tide will be tasked with taking one of the best pitchers in college baseball on Friday night, Jake Marciano. Thus far this season, Marciano, in six starts, has a 1.00 ERA, 0.56 WHIP, a .132 batting average against, and 51 strikeouts in 36 innings pitched.
“They’re good, they can really pitch. Marciano hasn’t given up a whole lot of hits this year,” Vaughn said.
Marciano will face off against SEC Pitcher of the Week, Tyler Fay, who no-hit Florida on Friday with a career high 13 punchouts.
Saturday’s pitching matchup is about as even as they come between two left-handed pitchers; the Tigers will be sending Jackson Sanders to the mound, facing off against Zane Adams. In six starts, Sanders has a 3.94 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, .214 batting average against, and 45 strikeouts in 32 innings pitched.
Adams has posted a 4.11 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, .254 batting average against, and 33 strikeouts in 30.2 innings pitched.
Alex Petrovic will toe the rubber for the Tigers on Sunday and has been dominant thus far this year in six starts with an ERA of 2.97, 1.02 WHIP, .212 batting average against, and punchouts in 30.1 innings pitched.
Petrovic will duel against freshman Myles Upchurch, who was unhittable in non-conference play, being named Perfect Game Co-Freshman of the Week, following his 11-strikeout performance against North Florida. However, Upchurch has struggled with his command in his first two SEC starts, walking nine batters in that stretch, but Vaughn is far from concerned.
“He’s a competitor,” Vaughn said. “And he’s gonna show up, and he doesn’t lack confidence, I can tell you that. He’s gonna work his butt off this week, he’s going to show up fresh, and he’s going to turn in a great one for us next Sunday.”
The Tigers’ offensive leaders:
The No. 5-ranked team in the nation has a stacked lineup from top to bottom, but here are some of their top hitters in their starting nine.
The Tigers are led by center fielder Bristol Carter, who is leading the team in batting average at .387, with a 1.022 OPS, two home runs, and 13 RBIs. Catcher Chase Fralick has been just as good, if not better, hitting .352, with a 1.088 OPS, and leads the team in RBIs and home runs with five and 23.
The Tigers’ freshman shortstop, Brandon McCraine, is hitting .367, with a .969 OPS. He has yet to hit a home run in his collegiate career, but does have two doubles and a triple with nine RBIs. Tigers third baseman Eric Guevara is also having a great season, hitting .325, with a .925 OPS, four home runs, and 19 RBIs.
Just about everyone on the Tigers can hit as their team batting average is .300, and get on base at an extremely high rate with a team on-base percentage of .412. The one downside to the Tigers is that they do not hit a ton of home runs, with just 24 long balls on the season.
Keys for the Crimson Tide:
The Crimson Tides’ success will depend on whether they can play clean defense, which has been a rarity for them this season. They currently have 37 errors in the first 25 games of the season, for a .958 fielding percentage that ranks No. 262 in the nation and is by far the worst in the SEC.
Against a team like the Tigers, you can’t afford to give them extra outs if they want a chance at pulling off the upset. The Crimson Tide’s bullpen has to be better if the Crimson Tide wants any chance in this series. So far this year, the team’s bullpen ERA is 4.41.
The Crimson Tide fans and right field ragers will also need to do their part and pack The Joe out to give them a home-field advantage and prevent Tigers fans from taking over.
“We need the fans to show up and do what they’ve been doing on steroids,” Vaughn said. “We gotta show up, and be relentless, because I can tell you, being over there for two years, they’ve been relentless on us. So we need them to show, and I know they will.”
The three-game series will begin on Friday at 6 p.m. CT and can be streamed on SEC+.
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