The Alabama Crimson Tide’s bid to stay alive in the Hattiesburg Regional of the NCAA Tournament fell short once again. After just missing a walk off home run in Friday’s opening 5-3 loss to Miami, Bama built a lead that they could not hold and lost 6-5 to the host Southern Miss Eagles on Saturday afternoon. The loss dropped the Tide to 41-18 on the season. Bama finished 17-15 in SEC games, 16-14 in the regular season and 1-1 in the SEC Tournament. This is an improvement from coach Rob Vaughn’s first season marks of 33-24 overall, 13-17 in SEC regular season games, and 0-1 in the SEC Tournament. Both seasons finished with 0-2 records in NCAA Regional play. The program has now lost their last six NCAA Tournament games stretching back to going 0-2 to Wake Forest in Super Regional play in 2023 when current pitching coach Jason Jackson was serving as interim head coach.
On a hot, muggy, day in Hattiesburg surprisingly the two top rated teams in the regional faced off in an elimination game. The Tide had fallen to Miami on Friday afternoon and the host Golden Eagles were destroyed by 4th seeded Columbia 11-4 in the night cap. USM started their ace, JB Middleton, after holding him out of game one- which they may have regretted after Friday nights loss. Alabama countered with Tyler Fay, and Fay out pitched the projected first round pick in Middleton.
Middleton disposed of the Tide in order on eight pitches in the top of the 1st, and Fay did him one better by needed only seven pitches to put the Eagles down in the bottom half. Middleton needed nine pitches for another 1-2-3 frame in the top of the 2nd. Fay allowed two singles in the bottom half but kept USM off the board.
The Tide took the lead in the top of the 3rd when Will Plattner, normal a catcher but playing as the DH today, blasted his first collegiate home run over the left field wall for a 1-0 lead. The Eagled snatched the lead away in the bottom half on a pair of two out hits, the second of which was a home run by second baseman Nick Monistere for a 2-1 lead.
The lead flipped back in Bama’s favor in the top of the 4th. Kade Snell drew a one out walk and trotted home on a two out, opposite field, laser home run by Will Hodo. The 15th home run of the year by the first baseman staked the Tide to a 3-2 lead. Not to be out done, USM tied the game up when Ben Higdon lead off the bottom of the 4th with a solo blast of his own. In the top of the 6th Bama missed a chance by leaving the bases loaded without scoring.
The score remained at 3-3 up until the 7th inning. Fay exited after six stellar innings. allowing three runs on six hits with one walk and three strikeouts on a career high 87 pitches. In the top of the 7th the Tide used some two out magic. After Brennen Norton and Plattner both flyed out to centerfield Brady Neal singled to keep the inning going. Bryce Fowler, a former Southern Miss player, was up next and smoked a home run over the centerfield fence to give the Tide a 5-3 lead. Justin LeBron followed with a single but was left stranded.
Braylon Myers took over in the bottom of the 7th and worked around a two out walk to hold the lead. In the top of the 8th the Tide missed a chance to possibly put the game out of reach. Richie Bonomolo, Jr lead off with a double and was joined on the base paths by Hodo, who was intentionally walked. With two on and two out Jason Torres was called on to try and bunt the runners over, something he has likely never been called on to do before. After two unsuccessful attempts Torres worked the count to full and struck out swinging on a pitch that looked like it might have been ball four. There was still a chance with two on and one out, but Norton rapped into a double play on the first pitch he saw to end the once promising inning. Bama still led 5-3 and had Myers still on the hill, with closer Carson Ozmer waiting in the pen. The duo have been far and away the Tides best bullpen arms all season, and they would need to get six more outs for the team to survive and advance for one more day.
Monistere led off the bottom of the 8th and hit an 0-1 pitch from Myers for his second home run of the game to cut the lead to 5-4. Ozmer was then called in to try and nail down the victory as he has done 17 times before this season. The sidewinding grad transfer hit Matthew Russo with a pitch then walked Joey Urban. The Eagles attempt at small ball went awry as well. Higdon put down a punt that the Tide player perfectly with a wheel play. Torres charged in and turned and gunned the ball to LeBron covering third base for the force out. Pinch hitter Braden Luke hit a sharp ground ball to Hodo at first base that advanced the runners with now two outs. Alabama elected to intentionally walk left handed hitting Carson Paetow to load the bases. Eagles catcher, and ninth place hitter, Tucker Stockman, spoiled that strategy by ripping a two run single to centerfield for the 6-5 lead. Jake Cook was retired on a fly ball to centerfield to end the inning, giving the Tide on last chance to play on.
Neal drew a one out walk and moved to second on a single by Fowler, the right fielders third hit of the day. LeBron struck out for out two before Snell walk to load the bases. Bonomolo was up with a chance to forge a tie or a lead, but hit a ground ball to third baseman Seth Smith who fielded the ball and stepped on his bag for the force out to end the game.
Bama hit 9-35 in the game with four walks, one hit batter, 10 strikeouts, and left eight men on base, The Tide had one double, and three home runs among their hits. Fowler was 3-5 with two RBI, a home run, and a run scored. Hodo was 1-2 with two runs driven in, a walk, and a hit by pitch in his final game in Crimson. Plattner was 1-4 with his home run. Snell finished 1-3 with two walks and a run scored. Neal, Bonomolo, and LeBron had one single each. Ozmer was the losing pitcher and fell to 4-2 on the year.
Southern Miss was 8-32 in the game with four walks, one hit batter, four strikeouts, and seven left on base. The Eagles had three home runs among their safeties. Colby Allen pitched two scoreless innings, allowing two hits and walking three, and got the win to improve to 7-4 on the year. Middleton entered the game with a 10-1 record and a 2.08 ERA pitched seven innings, allowed seven hits, with one walk and eight strikeouts. All five runs he allowed were earned.
This was a disappointing ending to a good season. The Tide showed improvement in both overall record and in SEC play, but still couldn’t get over the regional hump. There will be a lot of moving parts over the next couple of months with portal news, both in and out of it, and the draft coming up on July 13th. Ill be back soon with a more in depth look at the season and a look (guess) at what the roster may look like. This was a fun season with a lot of highlights that can be looked back on more fondly when the hurt of the finish wears off a little bit. Vaughn and staff have things heading in the right direction and the future is bright.
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