Against All Odds: Alabama Baseball Looks to Continue Magical Season With Upset Over No. 1 Wake Forest

The Crimson Tide is faced with its toughest task yet — a series win on the road against the national championship-favorite Demon Deacons.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The next step.

On paper, Alabama baseball has met expectations in 2023 — especially given the circumstances. Coming into the season, the Crimson Tide was expected to reach the NCAA tournament. It did that. Alabama hosted a regional — and won it in front of a sellout crowd.

Where the program has been over the last decade, and with everything that the group went through at the beginning of May, this has been a successful season — and one that would absolutely be looked at in a positive light.

But the Crimson Tide has an opportunity at something more. Two wins is all it will take for Alabama to reach the College World Series for the first time this century.

Two wins — on the road against the No. 1 overall seed and national championship favorite.

Wake Forest hasn’t been the top team in the country all season, but it is very deserving of the title at this moment. The Demon Deacons blasted through their home regional, going 3-0 against Maryland and George Mason — winning the three games by a combined score of 48-7.

Wake Forest really has no weaknesses. The Demon Deacons have five players with 10 or more home runs this season — including a combined 50 blasts from Brock Wilken and Nick Kurtz. Eight different hitters have 30+ RBIs. Somehow, the pitching unit may be even more impressive. It all starts with RHP Rhett Lowder (14-0, 1.66 ERA), who is yet to be credited with a loss in 16 starts. Lowder is a projected top-10 pick in the 2023 MLB Draft.

Not to mention — Wake Forest is 30-3 at David F. Couch Ballpark this season.

“I think it’s a great opportunity,” interim head coach Jason Jackson said. “Our guys have earned this opportunity to get a chance to go on the road with the team that’s ranked number one in the country. We’re really excited about it.”

There is a good chance of home runs this weekend. With left field at 310 feet and right field at just 300 feet — the park definitely plays offensive. Both the Crimson Tide and Demon Deacons have power up and down the lineup.

“Go out and attack the strike zone — that’s kind of the big thing,” Jackson said. “There’s going to be some home runs hit — we all know that. But if you can go out and do a good job of attacking the strike zone and limiting the free passes — that’s what Wake [has] done all year — we’ve seen their pitching numbers. There’s probably going to be a ball that goes out of the ballpark this weekend so you’ve got to make them be solo home runs.”

Wake Forest may be the big favorite this weekend, but the two teams are very similar when it comes to personnel. Both squads boast deep lineups, great starting pitching and capable bullpens.

“If you look at these two teams, I think we’re very, very similar ballclubs,” Jackson said. “We’re both very well-rounded teams and we’ve got some guys with thump, some guys that can run a little bit and we got some depth on the mound, some power arms just like they do.”

The challenge is there for Alabama — so is the confidence.

“I think we’re definitely confident that we can go toe-to-toe with anybody in the country,” left fielder Tommy Seidl said. “Any team that’s got some kind of confidence, that they’ve kind of been through it before, that they’re not really afraid of anything can be a dangerous team.”

“The guys are going to be fired up,” Jackson said. “They know we’re playing in a Super Regional. We’re not going to try to downplay that.”

In the last 23 years under the current NCAA tournament format, just one No. 1 overall seed has won the national championship — Miami in 1999. In that same timeframe, nine No. 1 overall seeds didn’t reach the College World Series — the most recent being Tennessee a season ago.

Another key stat — the team that wins Game 1 of the Super Regional has a 79% success rate of making the eight-team field in Omaha.

A dominant, star-studded No. 1 overall seed stands in the way of the Crimson Tide going to Omaha for the first time in 24 years. It certainly won’t be easy, but after everything it has been through and with the way it is playing right now — why not Alabama?

See Also:

Alabama Baseball Pitching Staff Needs Consistency Against Wake Forest

Postcard from the Winston-Salem Super Regional: Day 1

Changing Sides: Alabama Pitcher Hunter Furtado Familiar With Wake Forest