It's almost a surreal feeling. It was 27 years ago the last time Alabama baseball was in this exact position: one win away from reaching the College World Series.
But that's what faces the Crimson Tide on Sunday. On Saturday night in front of a record crowd at The Joe, Alabama baseball rolled through St. John's on the way to an 8-0 win that has them on the precipice of ending the Omaha drought.
Just don't mention that to Rob Vaughn right now.
He knows the danger of getting ahead of yourself. In the postgame media session last night, he referenced being an assistant coach at Maryland in 2014 and the Terps winning the first game of a Super Regional round before dropping two in a row and getting knocked out.
Heading into Sunday afternoon's matchup, Vaughn is preaching staying present to his team:
"I think just us being super present, like these guys have been," Vaughn said, via Hunter De Siver. "...Same thing last weekend, right? Like you're in that game on Sunday against Oklahoma State. I told the guys, 'If we're going into that game [and you're thinking that] we just got to win one of the next two, you're in trouble.' You give that team some momentum, they're going to fight you tooth and nail.
"So, to me, it's a big piece that's just being present and understanding tomorrow's it. Like, we can't start thinking about punching our ticket. We can't start thinking about what it would mean. That's all something we can dwell on after we get there.
Rob Vaughn has Alabama baseball focused on what's in front of them
You have to keep the main thing the main thing in these types of situations. It's natural for your mind to drift toward what is coming next, especially when you are one win away from doing something that no Tide baseball team has done this century.
Vaughn did a good job of that in game one of the series. Alabama was focused and dialed in from the jump, rolling to an 8-0 win that was never really in doubt.
Tyler Fay threw a gem in his final appearance at The Joe, tossing 7.1 innings and giving up just two hits while striking out nine. He got more than enough help from the Tide's offense.
Brennan Holt got the party started with a two-run double in the 2nd inning to put Alabama up 2-0 early. Alabama broke it open in the 4th. A bases-loaded walk from Peyton Steele made it 3-0, and then Bryce Fowler doubled home two runs to make it 5-0. Brady Neal added an RBI walk to push the lead to 6-0.
Justin Lebron added some insurance in the 8th on his third hit of the night. He ripped a double that plated two more runs to give Alabama the 8-0 lead it ended with.
Alabama will be back at it at 2pm on Sunday against St. John's with a chance to clinch a spot in Omaha. A St. John's win would force a winner-take-all game on Monday in Tuscaloosa.
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