Alabama baseball exited the SEC Baseball Tournament in the first round for the first time since 2014 after falling to South Carolina 10- 5 on Tuesday.
At 33-22 overall, the Crimson Tide are expected to find themselves in next week’s NCAA Tournament. Ahead of next week’s regional round, Alabama head coach Rob Vaughn took a moment to reflect on his first year leading the baseball program.
“I’m a believer in people. That’s what drew me here, to be honest with you, is a guy like Greg Byrne,’ Vaughn said on Tuesday after the tournament loss. “I think we have the best AD in the country. … That’s what drew me to Alabama in the first place. Then, (we’re) fortunate enough to keep J.J. (Jason Jackson) on our staff and to bring two guys with me that have been with me for a long time. Pap’s (Anthony Papio) been with me for 11 years; Mo’s (Mike Morrison) been with me for three.
“I think that’s the biggest takeaway. I get to show up to work every single day with people that believe the same thing I believe. And these kids — it’s a special group of kids. The ones that decided to say, the Mac Guscette who could have signed, the Will Hamiter who could have hung it up, some of the freshmen coming in, Justin Lebron trusting us. That guy would have had no shortage of places to go if he wanted to. He could have signed in the draft, and he chose to say. Alton Davis. The list goes on and on. Gage Miller. It’s a special group of kids.”
Vaughn was announced as the new head coach of the Crimson Tide in June 2023, and while he’s only been coaching most of these players for a short time — he said that the second he accepted the Alabama job, “those kids are my kids.”
With a full regular season behind Vaughn and the Crimson Tide, he believes this group will have an impact on him for years to come.
“And, man, we’ve loved them hard, we’ve coached them hard,” he continued. “It’s a group that hopefully I get the chance to coach at Alabama for a really long time. But I’ll never forget this group of kids and how they bought into everything we’ve asked them to do. (We’ve) done some really cool things. (We’ve) done some really special things.”
The Crimson Tide now await the NCAA Tournament’s selection show, which is scheduled for May 27 at Noon ET live on ESPN2.
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