In the final home series of the regular season, Alabama baseball needed a series win over the No. 6 ranked Georgia Bulldogs to keep hopes alive of hosting a Regional in Tuscaloosa. Those hopes seemed a bit desparate following a game one shellacking.
The Bulldogs dominated the series opener on Friday, beating Alabama 19-3. It was another disappointing effort for a much-maligned Crimson Tide pitching staff.
A planned Friday double-header didn't materialize due to rainy weather in Tuscaloosa all weekend. Instead, the second game of the series that started on Friday didn't finish until Sunday. But Alabama was able to hold on to the 6-2 lead it built to win 9-3 and force a rubber match.
Riley Quick gave Alabama 4.1 good innings, and then Braylon Myers and Carson Ozmer were outstanding out of the bullpen. Ozmer threw two innings to close the door on a potential Georgia rally.
Justin Lebron, Bryce Fowler, and Richie Bonomolo Jr. all hit homers to pace the offensive effort.
Game three was changed to a seven-inning game to ensure there were no issues with travel schedules. The two clubs still had to endure another 20-minute delay in a weekend filled with them.
In a massive game with Regional implications on the line, Alabama got it done. Zane Adams gave the Tide four good innings, giving up two runs and striking out eight batters.
Alabama built an early 4-0 lead during Sunday's rubber match. An RBI single by Will Hodo in the 1st inning was followed up by home runs by Jason Torres and Kade Snell in the 2nd to push the Tide's lead to four.
Georgia cut the lead in half with a homer of their own before Justin Lebron ripped an RBI double in the 5th to put Alabama up 5-2. Dan Jackson belted a two-run homer in the sixth to cut Alabama's lead to just one run.
Rob Vaughn called upon Carson Ozmer again in the 7th after having already throw 22 pitches in the first game of Sunday's double-header. They only needed Ozmer to get two outs. He induced a ground-ball out and then struck Kolby Branch to finish the job.
The win improved Alabama to 39-13 on the season and 15-12 in SEC play heading into the final series of the regular season.
A series win over Florida in Gainesville should be enough for Alabama to host a Regional
Heading into this weekend's matchup with Georgia, it was believed that the Crimson Tide going 4-2 over their final six games would be enough to allow them to host a Regional. 3-3 would put them on the bubble. Any realistic scenario of going 4-2 was always going to require winning this series at home, even against a highly-ranked opponent like Georgia.
Alabama delivered when it needed to, and if they can go to Gainesville and win two out of three against Florida, then Vaughn's team should be hosting. This would be only the seventh time in program history that Alabama hosted a Regional. It most recently happened in 2023. You'd have to go back to 2006 to find the latest time before that.