This is an opinion column.
Don’t bet against them. It’s a cheap joke and sound advice, a laugh line and a sober reminder of a season unlike any other. It’s the story of the 2023 Alabama baseball season, which is far from over and won’t be done even after the last out in June.
If you can’t appreciate these guys without putting money on them, you may have a gambling problem. Seek help immediately.
The team that lost its first four SEC series won five of its last six, the final three straight, and is all but assured of playing host to an NCAA Regional next weekend. It’ll be the first time the NCAA Baseball Tournament has come to town since 2006. More on that in a minute, although perhaps the less said about that bitter memory the better.
The team that lost its head coach May 4 when he was fired after allegedly communicating with a bettor just before that individual placed a large wager against the Crimson Tide in its series opener at LSU has responded in the best possible way. Alabama is 10-4 since Brad Bohannon’s betrayal and dismissal, news that sent shockwaves through a sport generally light on off-field scandal.
While the extent of and motivation for Bohannon’s dereliction of duty has yet to be detailed, there has been no suggestion that any Alabama players ran afoul of the NCAA’s strict rules against placing wagers or sharing inside information. Quite the opposite, and quite the contradiction. While their coach disgraced himself, the players he recruited and developed in rebuilding a floundering program have distinguished themselves.
They’re doing things this program hasn’t done in years. Their 16 SEC wins, in perhaps the league’s strongest year ever, is the most since 2009. Their 40 overall wins is the highest number since 2010, which was the last time they reached a Super Regional. Through Friday’s games, they were ranked No. 11 in the country in the RPI.
At last check, DI Baseball projected Alabama as the No. 11 national seed in the NCAA Tournament. Baseball America’s prediction has them as the No. 12 national seed. We’ll find out for sure soon. The NCAA will announce the 16 regional hosts this evening and release the entire bracket Monday morning.
Has any team in any sport in Tuscaloosa turned a negative into a positive more quickly and emphatically than this Alabama baseball team? Has any team in the history of college baseball seen its head coach get fired the first week of May and heard its name called as a national seed in the NCAA Tournament to close out the month?
That’s a credit to interim head coach Jason Jackson and a mature group of veteran players, from redshirt junior Andrew Pinckney to senior Jim Jarvis to redshirt senior transfer Tommy Seidl from Harvard.
Jackson, who was the team’s pitching coach until his May 4th battlefield promotion, understands what the next week can mean to a program that wandered in the desert for too long and then was forced to wonder if its oasis of a season was really a mirage.
Playing host to a Regional, Jackson said, “would mean a lot to our fan base, it would mean a lot to our athletic department, but it would also mean a lot to our players, all of our staff and all the people that have put a lot of time and effort into kind of getting this thing where it is. Our facility is built to host. I think our fan base is hungry for it. So I think it would mean a lot to a lot of people. We’re excited about that opportunity if we get it.”
If they don’t earn a host spot, with that 40-19 record against the elite competition the SEC provides, after a solid 2-2 week at the SEC Tournament, there should be an investigation. If they do welcome the tournament back to T-town for the first time in 17 years, the Joe should be packed in appreciation and anticipation.
The last time they played there in June, they were one strike away from forcing a third and deciding game against North Carolina in the 2006 Super Regional. Then the Tar Heels hit a walk-off home run to end not just a terrific Alabama season but, in a way, the tremendous run of legendary coach Jim Wells. The only thing he didn’t do was win a national title, and he came oh so close.
The Tide hasn’t hosted a Regional or a Super Regional, won a Super Regional or advanced to the College World Series since. Perhaps it’s time for the baseball gods to smile on this program and this team that has prospered against all odds.
A word of advice if you’re so inclined. Don’t bet against them.
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