What to know about Alabama baseball's NCAA regional in Hattiesburg

Alabama baseball was hoping to host an NCAA regional this weekend. Instead, the Crimson Tide will travel roughly 180 miles down I-59 South to Southern Miss where it will serve as the No. 2 seed in the Hattiesburg Regional.

Alabama (41-16) will open play in the double-elimination tournament against No. 3 seed Miami (31-24) at 2 p.m. CT on Friday. Following that game, host Southern Miss (44-14) will take on No. 4 seed Columbia (29-17).

The full schedule for the regional is as follows:

Friday

2 p.m. – Game 1: Alabama vs. Miami

6 p.m. – Game 2: Southern Miss vs. Columbia

Saturday

2 p.m. – Game 3: Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2

8 p.m. – Game 4: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2

Sunday

2 p.m. — Game 5: Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4

6 p.m. — Game 6: Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 4

Monday

TBD — Game 7: Winner of Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 6 (If necessary)

Here’s what you need to know about Alabama heading into the regional.

Justin Lebron | SS | So.

Justin Lebron might be the top overall pick in next year’s MLB Draft. For now, his focus is on being the best player in this weekend’s regional. The Tide’s No. 2 hitter leads the team with 18 home runs, 72 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. He was also named to the SEC All-Defensive team.

Riley Quick | SP | R-So.

Riley Quick is Alabama’s ace pitcher and will take the mound to start the Tide’s opener in the regional against Miami. The 6-foot-6, 245-pound right-hander has an 8-2 record with a 3.54 earned run average and 64 strikeouts to 20 walks over 56 innings. Quick is viewed by many as the top right-handed college pitcher in this year’s draft class. He is expected to be selected in the first round of the MLB Draft in July

Kade Snell | LF | R-Sr.

Kade Snell is Alabama’s team captain and No. 3 hitter. He leads the team with a .366 batting average and a .462 on-base percentage and has struck out just 16 times over 205 at-bats. He has a team-high 23 multi-hit games, including seven straight from March 16-28.

Carson Ozmer | CL | Gr.

Carson Ozmer is Alabama’s closer and has already set the program’s single-season save record with 17 saves. The Penn transfer has a 2.89 ERA with 48 strikeouts compared to 17 walks over 37⅓ innings pitched.

Daniel Cuvet | 3B | So. | Miami

Lebron might be the best overall player in this weekend’s regional, but Daniel Cuvet is the most productive hitter. The Miami third baseman is hitting .378 with 16 home runs and 76 RBIs. He’s had multi-hit games in 10 of his last 12 games dating back to April 26.

AJ Ciscar | SP | Fr. | Miami

Miami will be sending out a true freshman to the mound to face Alabama on Friday. AJ Ciscar earned ACC All-Freshman honors this season, posting a 5-1 record with a 3.77 ERA and 56 strikeouts to 14 walks over 57⅓ innings pitched. The right-hander gave up one earned run on three hits while striking out six batters over six innings in a 15-1 win over Notre Dame on May 16 his last time out.

JB Middleton | SP | Jr. | Southern Miss

Southern Miss will save ace pitcher JB Middleton for Saturday, meaning that Alabama will likely face him if it beats Miami on Friday. The junior has a 10-1 record and a 2.01 ERA with 114 strikeouts compared to 24 walks over 98⅓ innings. While he has been dominant this season, Middleton was rocked during a loss to Alabama last year, giving up three runs on four hits while failing to retire a batter over 13 pitches.

Sam Miller | SS | Jr. | Columbia

Columbia isn’t expected to do much damage this weekend. That being said, the Lions have a dangerous hitter in Sam Miller. The Ivy League Player of the Year is batting .342 with 16 home runs and 55 RBIs. One of those home runs came off Georgia starter Joe Sheets during a loss to the Bulldogs on March 9.

There’s no use in crying over what it can’t control, but Alabama was disappointed not to host a regional in this year’s NCAA Tournament. The Tide ranks No. 13 in terms of RPI and played the No. 20 toughest schedule, according to Warren Nolan. Both of those rankings top host Southern Miss, which ranks No. 19 in RPI and No. 67 in strength of schedule. That’s not even taking the Tide’s 10-6 win over Southern Miss last month into account.

“We all felt like we deserved to host,” Lebron said during a Zoom call with reporters on Thursday. “Obviously the committee felt otherwise. So, for us, we’re definitely playing with a chip on our shoulder. So we have something to prove for sure.”

As frustrated as Alabama is, Vaughn pointed out that earning a hosting site was in his team’s hands. Had the Tide won perhaps one more SEC series during the regular season, this weekend’s tournament could be in Tuscaloosa.

“I think that's the one thing we have to look ourselves in the mirror and say, is, yes, would it have been great to host, you're, dang right, it would have,” Vaughn said during Thursday’s Zoom call. “I thought we had a resume that that was respectable, but so does probably 20 other teams in the country too, and only 16 of them get to do it. So we take care of business, and we do some things differently, maybe throughout the year. There's no question about it. We left it to a little bit of doubt. We got kind of left on the outside. So there's been a chip on these kids' shoulders.”

Alabama’s ace will be fully charged heading into Friday’s regional opener against Miami. Quick did not pitch during last week’s SEC Tournament and hasn’t taken the mound since earning the win during the Tide’s 9-6 win at Florida on May 16.

“I laughed with him the other day,” Vaughn said. “I said, ‘Riley, we didn’t pitch you in Hoover, man. So I’ll see you for 120 [pitches] tomorrow. I don’t know if we’ll let him go 120, but we are going to pull the reins off a little bit and let that kid run. He’s ready for it.”

Quick, who underwent Tommy John surgery in February of 2024, has thrown 80 or more pitches in each of his last seven outings. That includes a season-high pitch count of 96 during a win over No. 1 national seed Vanderbilt on May 3.

“I feel great,” Quick said on Thursday’s Zoom call. “I’m really excited to get the ball in Game 1. I know everybody behind me is going to be ready, and they’re going to be doing their thing. And if I do get to go 120 pitches, that will be really fun, too — throwback to the high school days. But I’m excited. I feel really good. The rest was definitely needed, and I’m ready to go.”

Alabama was bounced out of last year’s NCAA Tournament in two games after suffering back-to-back losses to Central Florida and Stetson in the Tallahassee Regional. When asked whether that provides motivation for his team this year, Vaughn quipped that he’s trying to forget last season’s collapse instead, stating that it “was not a good performance by the boys.”

“We were scratching, clawing, fighting to get to the postseason and I think we were just beat very honestly,” Vaughn said. “I thought our guys were tired. I thought they were emotionally drained. I thought it took everything they had to get there, and we didn't have enough when we got there.

“So that's kind of been our mindset from the first day of the fall. I said, ‘Man, nobody remembers how you start. Nobody is going to talk about this season in 2025 of the first time you won 41 since 2002 the record start that we went on winning 17 games only played.’ Nobody is going to talk about that if we go oh and two this weekend, nobody will remember this year like because you remember how people finish, and that's been our message from day one, is people remember how you finish.”

Along with Alabama’s focus on finishing, last season’s early exit also taught the Tide to take things one game at a time and bring its A-game regardless of who it plays moving forward.

“I feel like that was one of the things we struggled on last year,” Lebron said. “We kind of took UCF and Stetson for granted. Also, we didn’t play the best baseball because we thought we were just going to get by with what we had.

“Postseason baseball, everyone’s good. It doesn’t matter if you’re a mid-major; it doesn’t matter what it is. Everyone’s good, and there’s a chance they can beat you.”