TUSCALOOSA, Ala.- The Alabama Crimson Tide baseball team comes back from Texas as the Frisco College Baseball Classic tournament champions after a weekend performance of two wins and one loss.
The Tide claimed victories over the Iowa Hawkeyes and the then-19th -ranked Oregon State Beavers but were unable to complete a perfect weekend, as they fell to the Houston Cougars on Sunday.
Justin Lebron took home tournament MVP honors following a stellar weekend offensively in which he went 6-for-13 with seven RBI and three home runs across the three games.
In his postgame press conference on Sunday, Head Coach Rob Vaughn praised the faculty of Riders Field in Frisco for putting on what he called a “first-class” tournament.
“There’s a reason we come to these every year,” he said. “This is a really neat venue. And we played pretty darn good baseball here.”
FRIDAY 02/27 – Alabama 12, Iowa 2
Alabama began this weekend of pretty darn good baseball with a 12-2 victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes.
“I knew we were going to have our hands full,” Vaughn said. “They’re playing pretty good baseball right now. We just did a good job, threw a haymaker in the first.”
That haymaker was a 3-run homer from first baseman Luke Vaughn. The Tide continued the flurry of offense, with 12 runs off 13 hits.
Starting Pitcher Tyler Fay pitched six innings where he recorded three strikeouts while only giving up one run on five hits. He said it always feels good to pitch with a big lead.
“You go out there and send it, everything feels free,” he said. “It feels comfortable to pitch with an offense like this.”
SATURDAY 02/28 – Alabama 8, Oregon State 7
The Tide had to hold on for dear life to preserve an 8-to-7 victory over 19 th -ranked Oregon
State.
The Beavers had bases loaded with zero outs in the bottom of the ninth following a Lebron error, which brought Oregon State within one of the Tide. The Beavers seemed destined to at least tie Alabama, but Right Fielder Peyton Steele reeled in a pop fly and then launched a missile from right field to gun down Jacob Galloway at home plate and turn a double play.
“That’s what I want from these guys – unafraid,” Coach Vaughn said. “Just send your stuff and if you’re wrong, I’ll live with it. But don’t be in-between, don’t be hesitant.”
Alabama started out blazing hot, jumping out to a 6-0 lead in the first five innings with home runs from John Lemm, Jason Torres, and Eric Hines. Hines’ solo shot in the fourth inning was the first home run of his collegiate career.
Despite this hot start, Vaughn knew his team was going to have to battle for a full nine innings.
“Oregon State is Oregon State for a reason,” he said. “We knew they weren’t going to go away.”
SUNDAY 03/01 – Houston 9, Alabama 2
Alabama failed to complete a perfect weekend, losing 9 to 2 on Sunday to the Houston Cougars.
The catalyst for the Tide’s defeat was the Cougars’ starting pitcher.
“The story of the game was [Houston pitcher] Kendall Hoffman,” Vaughn said. “I mean, just an
unbelievable job pitching until the 8th .”
Hoffman pitched seven and 2/3 innings, only giving up two runs on five hits. He also recorded
five strikeouts.
Inconsistency on offense plagued the Crimson Tide.
“That was the story of the day,” Vaughn said postgame. “There were some really good swings in
there. Unfortunately, all our good swings were outs.”
Freshman Pitcher Myles Upchurch suffered the first loss of his collegiate career. Upchurch pitched 3 and 2/3 innings, where he gave up four hits and two runs.
His head coach is confident he will bounce back.
“The best thing about Myles is that he doesn’t flinch,” Vaughn said. “He would tell you he had
pretty rough outing, he was not good today, still, that was not a 15-0 game in the 4 th .”
Vaughn described his young pitcher in one word.
“Composure,” he said. “That’s why he’s starting on the weekend for us.”
Alabama will look to continue their momentum from the Frisco College Baseball Classic as they take on Jacksonville State in Tuscaloosa on Tuesday.
