'Playing for Their Lives': Rob Vaughn Expects Urgency from Missouri in Hoover

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— In past seasons, this year's Missouri baseball team wouldn't have qualified for the SEC Tournament. With format changes after Oklahoma's and Texas' entries now paving the way for every team to appear, the Tigers will play conference tournament baseball in Hoover.

No. 9-seed Alabama, led by second-year head coach Rob Vaughn, has already faced Missouri before. The Crimson Tide completed a home sweep of Kerrick Jackson's team in April. The Tigers, who had a 3-27 league record in the regular season, have no avenue through which to extend their 2025 campaign other than winning the conference tournament.

"They're gonna be playing for their lives," Vaughn said Monday afternoon. "You know what it looks like to go up and step up against that. They're gonna be playing with some urgency. They're gonna be playing with some desperation."

Vaughn is 0-1 in Hoover as the Crimson Tide coach. Alabama lost a first-round game to 10-seed South Carolina on May 21, 2024. This year's squad will serve as ribbon cutters for the 2025 tournament, playing in the very first game of the event at 9:30 a.m. CT Tuesday.

"That's the mark of elite teams, is they can look that in the eye and say 'You do what you gotta do, man. We're ready for you.' That's what I think this group will do," Vaughn said. "[We're] gonna be playing a really hungry, desperate team tomorrow."

The Crimson Tide (40-15, 16-14 SEC) has opted to trot out right-hander Tyler Fay, who has been first up in the weekend rotation over the last several weeks, for the nationally televised contest. The 16-seed Tigers chose to counter with dual-sport athlete Sam Horn, also a Missouri quarterback.

"9:30 a.m. is not a normal time that these kids are used to playing games, so that'll be a little bit of another task to have, but I trust the maturity of our group," Vaughn said. "You have to be able to look them in the eyes and say, 'Give me your best shot. We're gonna play our best baseball against you.'"

Crimson Tide softball coach Patrick Murphy, fresh off leading his team to another appearance in the NCAA Tournament supers, recently said the best way to respect an opponent is to play one's best against that opponent. This message resonated with Vaughn.

"I think Coach Murph said that," Vaughn said. "That's the best way you respect an opponent is by throwing your best punch, by playing your best game against them. That's what we're gonna have to do tomorrow morning."

One of the other changes to the tournament is no small item. The bracket is now contested under single elimination rules instead of past double elimination iterations. The margin for error for both teams in Tuesday's first-round game, therefore, isn't just low. It's zero.