re: Tide Baseball 31-27 (12-17)

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Gary L. Harris@garyharris_wvua·2h.
@AlabamaBSB Head Coach @CoachBo_Bama joined The Gary Harris Show Tuesday morning on @Tide1009 to preview the 2022 season. Click on the link to listen to the podcast.

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Recap of Bo's comments:

- Momentum built last year with regional berth does help for this year. Gave returners taste of postseason and some confidence.

- By far the best collection of talent since he's been here. Good mixture of experience and legitimate talent. Have to have some "real bullets" in this league to be successful. Feels we do on this team.

- Loves this team. To finish in the upper third of the league you've probably got to be a top 10 or so team in the country. Can't make predictions but we have 8-9 kids drafted this year, multiple top three round kids on the team and some kids that will be major leaguers. Good, competitive group, but we've faced no adversity yet.

- Mid-major teams like Xavier are very good because they have a bunch of 22 and 23 year olds right now. They will be a top 2-3 team in their league. They won 2 of 3 at Texas A&M last year. It will be a good challenge out of the gate. Need to play this kind of team before we go to Texas.

- Connor Preilipp is doing well but have not had any conversations about his future. If he were healthy last year and now he'd almost certainly be a top 5 overall pick in draft. Just focused on his health.

- Elephant in the room with this team is experience on the mound. Don't have a lot of SEC experience. We do have a lot of arm talent though - as much as we've had. McMillan will start Friday, Jean on Saturday, and Hitt on Sunday. I would be very comfortable starting 6-7 guys in SEC games. There just isn't a lot of separation in our top 7-8 guys. Committed to using Guffey out of the pen. Green will be closer. I seriously doubt in 5-6 weeks the rotation will be the same. Lots of guys will have extended outings early on with 5 games in 6 days.

- Really nice to have experience in the batting order. All our returning players are incrementally better. I think we can be middle pack or upper third offensively in the league this year. I think we'll hit 70-80 home runs. We've got good depth in our lineup.

- Zane Denton has a hitting gene. He just hits. Best thing about him is that he loves being at the baseball field, playing and practicing. You feed off kids like that as a coach.

- This weekend is big for confidence. Our kids don't doubt their ability but you still have to play to get better. We need to establish how we're going to play starting this weekend. Most concerned with our mentality and how we go about our business.

- I wanted to go to Miss State and Ole Miss in the fall because they are top five teams and we go to both of those places. It's good for the new people in our program to go to those places and see what it's about. I have great respect for those programs. It was good for our players to have that experience and know that we are going back in April. I think it was good for our confidence and hopefully it pays off this spring.

- When you play in the SEC you need to have one really tough challenge before starting league play. I told our operations guy that in 2022 we needed to find a tough road opponent. Didn't know at that time Texas would be the #1 team in the country. This is the first team we've had here where we have third year players that we've recruited with a full timeline. We've got some maturity and I want to go to Texas and see what it looks like. No matter what happens there, we'll be more prepared when Florida comes to town for SEC play.

Any idea if the freshman pitchers are looking good?

We got 2 pretty good ones right?

The SI season preview

Alabama Baseball 2022 Season Preview

Everything you need to know about the Crimson Tide heading into its 130th season, including insight from head coach Brad Bohannon.

Based on the intersquad recaps I was able to locate, these were the guys that threw in the most recent intersquads:

2/15
Trace Moore 4 IP
Nathan Shelton – 3 IP
Brock Guffey – 1 IP

2/13
Luke Holman 4 IP
Hunter Hoopes – 2 IP
Connor Ball – 2 IP
Grayson Hitt – 4 IP
Eli Giles – 3 IP

2/12

Antoine Jean – 4 IP
Braylon Myers – 3 IP
Hunter Furtado – 3 IP
Brayden Gainey – 3 IP

2/11
Garrett McMillan – 4 IP
Jacob McNairy – 4 IP
Brock Guffey – 2 IP
Landon Green – 2 IP

Also someone "TR" had 2 IP and "CC" had 3 IP. Can't tell who those are based on roster.

Holman, Shelton, Ball, and Myers are freshmen. I find it unlikley that someone who didn't work last weekend in intersquads would pitch this weekend. Generally if someone didn't work it means they're nursing something or they just aren't game-ready for whatever reason.

I would also add that based on the buildup it looks like they're hoping to get 5 innings out of the starters this weekend, 6 if they are cruising.

Big Drew back for his 11th season at first base!

Xavier-Bama Preview from Xavier SID

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Probable starters:
Friday - Trevor Olson (LHP)
Saturday - Bryce Barnett Jr. (RHP)
Sunday - George Eisenhardt (RHP)

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Trevor Olson appeared in 14 games and made 10 starts for Xavier last season. He finished the season with an ERA of 2.97 and 1.12 WHIP through 63.2 innings pitched, allowing 21 earned runs on 53 hits with 18 walks, striking out 50 along the way. The Graduate senior has been with Xavier for four years, compiling eight wins, a save, and 108 strikeouts across 144.2 innings pitched.

Bryce Barnett with make his Xavier debut on Saturday, after having pitched for Arizona State his freshman year. As a Sun Devil, Barnett tallied 17 strikeouts in just 8.1 innings of work. He didn't allow a run in seven of his eight outings, which were second-most on the team in the shortened season.

George Eisenhardt will embark on his freshman campaign on Sunday. He was a four-year varsity letterman for Lakeridge High School in Portland, Oregon, and earned All-League honors his freshman and sophomore year, and All-State in his sophomore year.

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Xavier's catcher, first baseman, shortstop, and an outfielder were all named preseason All-Big East and the Musketeers were picked third preseason in the league behind Connecticut and Creighton.

Baseball Opens 2022 Season at Home against Xavier

The 2022 Alabama baseball season is set to begin as the Crimson Tide welcomes the Xavier Musketeers to Sewell-Thomas Stadium for a three-game set. Friday's season opener is scheduled for a 3 p.m. CT first pitch. The Saturday matchup is slated for 2 p.m. with the series finale starting at 1 p.m. All three games during Opening Weekend will air live on SEC Network+.

Opening Weekend at The Joe will have numerous promotions for fans of all ages as the Crimson Tide begins the 2022 campaign with a three-game set against Xavier. Friday's season opener will feature free T-shirts for the first 1,000 students. Fans can pick up a copy of the Crimson Tide's official 2022 poster at Saturday's matchup. The posters are free to all fans in attendance across the weekend series. The series finale on Sunday will begin the Tide's "Kids' Day at The Joe" promotion. All kids 18-and-under can purchase a $5 general admission ticket. Children will also have the chance to run the bases postgame.

Fans can follow this weekend's game via the below outlets:
Watch: SEC Network+
Listen: 100.9 FM / CTSN / TuneIn App
Twitter: @AlabamaBSB
Live Stats: RollTide.com

Probable Starting Pitching Matchups
FRIDAY: UA – Garrett McMillan (Jr., RHP) vs. XU – Trevor Olson (Gr., LHP)
SATURDAY: UA – Antoine Jean (Jr., LHP) vs. XU – Bryce Barnett (Jr., RHP)
SUNDAY: UA – Grayson Hitt (So., LHP) vs. XU – George Eisenhardt (Fr., RHP)

Roger Hoover’s Crimson Drive interview today with Coach Bohannon (starts at the 15:30 mark)

LINK


Xavier series preview (1 min video)

LINK

Bohannon 'excited as I've ever been' about 2022 Alabama baseball team (BOL)