NCAA REGIONAL: Bama State battles back from slow start to earn trip to post season

Alabama State shortstop Breydon Divine takes a few grounders in the infield of Sewell-Thomas Stadium at the University of Alabama in preparation for Friday’s matchup with the Crimson Tide in the NCAA Regional. (Photo Courtesy Alabama State Athletics/Quincy Sims)

By GRAHAM DUNN

TUSCALOOSA - Pick an adjective…. Any adjective to describe the 2026 version of Alabama State baseball.

Resilient.

Gritty.

Rugged.

Hard to shut down.

The never-say-die attitude has the Hornets facing Alabama in the NCAA Regional tournament on Friday. They are one of three teams visiting Sewell-Thomas Stadium, including USC-Upstate and Oklahoma along with the homestanding Crimson Tide.

“We made it here after fighting through some adversity,” stated head coach Jose Vazquez, who is taking his second ASU team to the regionals.

“We never lost our goals, even after we went through some games where we didn’t play very well. I think we became closer as a team and that made a difference down the stretch.”

The Hornets are in Tuscaloosa this weekend after being given up for dead in the SWAC race. They finished fourth in the conference (20-10) and not expected to do much in last week’s tournament at Rickwood Field in Birmingham.

But a spark found a way into the ASU dugout, which may have actually began a couple of weeks earlier against regular-season champ Bethune-Cookman, which had enjoyed a lot of success on the way to the title.

Although the Hornets lost to the Wildcats in their last home series, they battled back to win the third game and finally found the long ball, hitting five home runs (actually six but one was erased due to a call of Jackson Williams “missing first base” as he rounded it) in Sunday’s finale. All of it led to a 14-11 win.

They followed with a sweep of Alcorn State, scoring 35 runs in the three game series.

The offensive onslaught continued in the SWAC Tourney, where ASU scored eight or more runs in each of the four games.

By the end of the regular season, the Hornets had raised their team batting average more than 20 points to .281.

“We had a couple of series where we weren’t playing very well and we had to make adjustments and I think that really turned us around,” stated shortstop Breydon Divine. “This team became more of a family and it helped us get through some of the tough games. We started to play really good baseball and we’ve been able to take that to this regional.”

As the hitting picked up, the pitching became more stable. Senior Jorhan Laboy shook off a slow beginning to the season and won four of his last six starts.

But the key on the mound may have been James Peterson, who was involved in each of the four wins in the conference tournament, getting a win or a save in three of the four games.

“When it comes to pitching he has done all we’ve asked of him,” Vazquez said. “His attitude is great. He has been competitive. The way he has come out and competed has been impressive.

“I don’t think we are here without all he did. He definitely carried the team in the (SWAC) tournament - (a) win and two saves. I don’t know I’ve seen too many stats like that.”

The Hornets (34-21) will face the Crimson Tide, the No. 7 overall seed in the national tournament, looking for their first win in three tries this year. Bama struggled to a 2-1 win over ASU in the first meeting back on Feb. 18 but then followed with a 13-4 win in Montgomery a couple of weeks later.

“Alabama State gave us fits here. We scored (the go-ahead run) on a bad pick off play at second base. We know what they are capable of doing,” Alabama coach Rob Vaughn said. “We played them in the middle of the week. The mindset comes down to what do we need to do to play our best ball.”

The Hornets will face the ace of the Bama pitching staff in right-hander Tyler Fay, who has been on both sides of the spectrum this season. He threw a complete-game no hitter against Florida earlier in the season but then was roughed up by the Gators in the SEC Tournament.

“We expect his best,” Vazquez said. “We will face a lot of good pitching this weekend but we have to be mentally prepared no matter who is on the mound.”

The opener on Friday is slated for a 6 p.m. start and will be available on the SEC Network. Radio feeds for each team will include the Hornets Sports Network (90.7 FM) and the Crimson Tide Sports Network (FM 94.7/101.1)

The first game of the regional features Oklahoma State and USC-Upstate scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.

Tuscaloosa NCAA Regional schedule

Games played at Sewell-Thomas Stadium

Friday (May 29)

Gm 1 - USC Upstate (3 seed) vs. Oklahoma St (2), 1 p.m.

Gm 2 - Alabama St (4) at Alabama (1), 6 p.m.

Saturday (May 30)

Gm 3 - Loser Gm 1 vs Loser Gm 2, 1 p.m.

Gm 4 - Winner Gm 1 vs Winner Gm 2, 6 p.m.

Sunday (May 31)

Gm 5 - Winner Gm 3 vs. Loser Gm 4, 2 p.m.

Gm 6 - Winner Gm 5 vs. Winner Gm 4, 7 p.m.

Monday (June 1)

Gm 7 - If Necessary (TBD)

Games can be seen on SEC Network, ESPN+ (SEC Network+)

Alabama State games are available on the Hornets Sports Network (FM 90.7)

Alabama games are available on the Crimson Tide Sports Network (Locally on FM 101.1 and 94.7)