The sky was falling for Alabama baseball fans on March 17. The team had just dropped a fourth consecutive game and looked like it was in danger of missing a regional.
Now the Crimson Tide has won 10 of its last 11 games, with eight of those coming against ranked opponents. On top of that, Alabama has won three straight SEC series for the first time since 2023, all against ranked opponents, while sweeping back-to-back SEC series for the first time since 2002.
The team also won seven straight SEC games for the first time since 1999, which was also the last time the Crimson Tide made it to the College World Series in Omaha.
The question is: What changed that has led to this red-hot stretch of baseball by head coach Rob Vaughn’s Crimson Tide?
“I didn’t give these guys some speech. I didn’t give these guys anything,” Vaughn said. “[I] kind of remind them who they are, and what it looks like when we do things together, and how we play together and function together. And you’ve got to credit the leadership of this team.”
The leaders include captain catcher Will Plattner, star shortstop Justin Lebron, center fielder Bryce Fowler, and closing pitcher Hagan Banks. All these players and the rest of the team had a choice: either keep playing uninspiring baseball or flip a switch and rewrite the ship, making the 2026 campaign a memorable one.
“There were two choices to make right there,” Plattner said. “You can say, ‘Wow, this is going terrible, and we’re just going to hope it goes better,’ or you can draw the line and fix it.”
That’s exactly what the Crimson Tide did — it drew the line after its disastrous performance on St. Patrick’s Day in Mobile, where it had five errors in a 6-3 defeat to South Alabama.
“You get on the bus not feeling bad for yourself, but you know that something has to change at some point, or it’s going to be a long season,” Fowler said about the loss to South Alabama.
During the Crimson Tide’s rough stretch, it was playing sloppy defense and stranding base runners at an unprecedented rate. The bullpen seemed to implode night in and night out.
Now the Crimson Tide has had just one error over its last two SEC series against then-No. 5 Auburn and No. 11 Oklahoma.
“One of the things we’ve been working on in practice is just making the routine plays,” Lebron said. “And then obviously, when we need to go make a big play, making that play and just picking each other up.”
The bullpen has been a huge question mark this year, especially after the team lost Kaden Humphrey for the season to Tommy John surgery. But it is coming into its own, led by Banks, and lefties Matthew Heiberger and Ashton Crowther. The bullpen held the Tigers and the Sooners to five runs in 22.1 innings pitched over the past two weekends.
Injuries have piled up all year long for the Crimson Tide, as Vaughn has described this team as “the most banged-up team he’s ever coached.” The team has lost outfielders Northern Kentucky transfer Logen Devenport and Coleman Mizell for the year, and Oklahoma transfer outfielder Sam Christiansen has yet to debut due to a broken leg.
The offense has also been coming through with huge hits game after game during the Crimson Tide’s nine-game win streak, and the team hasn’t been stranding as many base runners.
The turnaround started when Tyler Fay threw the Crimson Tide’s first solo nine-inning no-hitter since 1942 against No. 18 Florida.
“It feels like two different teams,” Vaughn said. “Adversity can callous you and harden you if you let it, or it can splinter you and make you pout and feel bad for yourself, and you start turning on each other if you let it. Just so proud of the way these guys have responded.”
It remains to be seen if the Crimson Tide will be able to keep up this red-hot stretch of baseball over the final six weeks of SEC play. However, the outlook for this team has completely flipped. Just three weeks ago, it looked like it had no chance of playing in a regional, and now it is projected by D1Baseball to host a regional for the first time in the Vaughn era.
“You’re seeing dudes that love playing together,” Vaughn said. “I think you’re seeing dudes that have been hardened through some adversity and really tough kids, and it’s a fun ride, but it’s a long way from over.”
The Crimson Tide will be back in action on Tuesday night at The Joe against Samford, with the first pitch slated for 6 p.m. CT. The game can be viewed on SECN+.
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