Alabama Bows Out Of World Series

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May 30, 2026; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Alabama batter Justin Lebron (1) celebrates his solo homer in the Tuscaloosa NCAA Regional winner’s bracket game between Alabama and USC Upstate in Sewell-Thomas Stadium. | Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

A memorable season came to a crashing end on Monday afternoon, with the Crimson Tide being blitzed out of the College World Series with a 14-2 loss to Texas. The Tide lost 9-0 on Saturday night before the shellacking by Texas on Monday. The 23-2 score differential is the largest since the 1957 CWS for a team that was put out after two games. Bama finished the season with a 42-21 record and the schools first World Series appearance since 1999. Texas improved to 46-14 and stayed alive to play another day. Georgia lost to Oklahoma in the second game of the day to drop into the losers bracket. UGA and Texas will play in an elimination game to see who rematches the Sooners.

Alabama’s Zane Adams made what will likely be the last start of his Alabama career, as Adams prepares for fhe MLB Draft. THe Longhorns countered with Ruger Riojas on the mound. In the top of the first Riojas struck out Bryce Fowler to start the game. Justin LeBron singled and stole second base, which would be the last hit and stolen base of LeBrons’s illustrious Alabama career. Riojas then struck out Brady Neal, and Jason Torres to strand LeBron. Texas got all the runs they would need in the bottom half, scoring three times on three doubles and a single. One double was down the left field line, just out of reach of third baseman Torres, and one was down the right field line, just out of reach of first baseman Luke Vaughn. By the time Adams struck out Ashton Larson to end the inning, the score was 3-0 in favor of the Longhorns.

Bama was able to cut into the lead in the top of the second inning. Johnny Lemm and Eric Hines led off the frame with back to back walks. Brennen Holt attempted to bunt them over, but after two unsuccessful tries, hit away and smoked a line drive to first baseman Larson for a double play. Luke Vaughn then looped a single to left field to plate Lemm for the Tide’s first run in the 2026 World Series. A strikeout of Peyton Steele ended the small uprising.

Adams was chased in the 3rd, by far his shortest outing of the year. After a single and a sac bunt, Adams fanned Aiden Robbins for the second out of the inning. Then things changed. Carson Tinney worked his second walk of the game followed by a little bloop single to left by Anthony Pack to score Robbins. Ethan Mendoza lined a single to right past Vaughn to plate another run. Horn shortstop Adrian Rodriguez hit a ball that fell between Hines in left field and Bryce Fowler in centerfield for a a two run hit that was originally ruled a single with an error allowing two runs to score. Later in the game when Rodriguez needed a triple to complete the cycle the call was changed to a three bagger. When Adams followed by walking Temo Beccera, Matthew Heiberger was summoned from the bullpen. Adams left with 1.2 inning pitched allowing seven hits with three walks with two strikeouts and seven runs allowed. With the two punch outs Adams reached 100 strikeouts on the season, joining Tyler Fay at the century mark. Fay finished the year with 127 strikeouts, one short of the school record for single season held by Wade Leblanc with 128. Heiberger needed just three pitches to end the inning with a groundout. Later it was reveled that Texas had found a tell and Adams was tipping his pitches.

Fowler singled for the Tide in the 3rd, but a double play ended the inning with no damage. Heiberger remained efficient and needed only eight pitches to induce three ground ball outs from the Longhorns. The Tide scored to cut into the lead in the top of the fourth, but only scored once on three hits. Lemm blasted a one out home run 415 feet for the Tides first, and only home run of their stay in Omaha. Hines and Holt followed with sharp singles to put two runners on. Vaughn drilled a ball into deep centerfield that was hauled in for out number two. A strikeout of Steele ended the threat with the score 7-2. That was as close as the Tide would get.

Heiberger continued to hold the Longhorns scoreless in the 4th and 5th innings, allowing only one hit and two walks. Riojas cruised through the Tide’s lineup, retiring his final eight batters to finish six innings with only the two runs allowed.

The Longhorns finally broke through against Heiberger in the bottom of the sixth. Robbins was hit by a pitch with one out before Tinney flew to deep right field for the second out. The left-handed hitting Pack then smacked an opposite field home run into the Alabama bullpen in left field. When Mendoza singled, Heiberger was lifted in favor of Hagan Banks. Rodriguez smashed a 3-2 pitch deep over the right field fence for two runs, at which point his earlier single became a triple to give the shortstop the cycle in the game- single, double, triple, and home run. Banks struck out Beccera to end the inning with the score now 11-2.

Brody Walls replaced Riojas in the 7th and had little trouble, allowing only a walk to Steele. Banks retired the first two batters in the bottom of the inning before being replaced by freshman Myles Upchurch. Upchurch got a ground out to end the inning.

Walls hit LeBron leading off the top of the 8th, and Torres reached on an error, but two strikeouts and a fly out again kept the Tide off the board. Upchurch was back out for the bottom half. Robbins reached leading off when LeBron couldn’t handle a slow roller just over the mound. Tinney walked for the fourth time in the game before Pack blooped another single to left to score a run. A ground out by pinch hitter Callum Early plated a run before Rodriguez hit another double for his fifth hit and seventh RBI of the game. Upchurch got a strikeout and ground out to end the inning with the score 14-2. The Tide struck out twice in the ninth, sandwiched around a ground out, to end the game.

Alabama hit 6-32 in the game with three walks, one hit batter, with 11 strikeouts and seven men left on base. Lemm was 1-3 with a walk, two runs scored, and his 10th home run of the year. LeBron was 1-3 with a hit by pitch and a stolen base. Vaughn was 1-3 with a run driven in. Fowler, Hines, and Holt had the other Bama hits. Adams fell to 8-5 with the loss. Heiberger pitched a season high four innings.

Texas hit 13-35 in the game with six walks, one hit batter, with five doubles, a triple, two home runs, with six strikeouts and five left on base. Rodriguez was 5-5 with two doubles, a triple, a home run, one run, and seven runs driven in. Pack was 3-5 with a home run and four RBI. Mendoza finished 3-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. Riojas improved to 6-2 with the win.

Obviously the World Series performance was not what the Tide was looking for. However the team and program took a big step forward this season. Despite some obvious flaws Bama was able to finish 4th in the SEC with two different seven game conference winning streaks, sweeping Florida, Auburn, Vanderbilt, and South Carolina along the way. The team was the 7th National seed, and hosted and won both a Regional and Super Regional. Coach Rob Vaughn’s squad won 40 games or more for two seasons in a row. It had been over 20 years since Alabama teams had reached that number. The play wasn’t always pretty, but the team played tough and were resilient throughout the year.

Now comes the rebuild as the team will lose most of their lineup and pitching rotation to graduation and/or the draft. Later this week I will dive into more about the season and about the future. Later this week look out for our The Weekly Joe podcast for our thoughts on the season and the future. It has been a fun, exhausting, season, and I covered over 9,000 miles following the team around. The Omaha experience was incredible and hopefully not a once in a life time one. Vaughn and company aren’t going anywhere and we should look forward to the Tide being in the mix for years to come.

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