Alabama Baseball Turning to Tyler Fay in Hattiesburg Regional Game 3

HATTIESBURG, Miss.— When Alabama baseball takes the field for its elimination game Saturday against No. 16 national seed Southern Miss, Friday night starter Tyler Fay will be the pitcher. The redshirt sophomore has been in the weekend rotation since April.

The Crimson Tide (41-17) went out of order in Friday's Hattiesburg Regional opener, throwing right-hander Riley Quick in a 5-3 loss against No. 3 seed Miami (Fla.). Hours later, the Golden Eagles (44-15) were upset by No. 4 seed Columbia 11-4.

Southern Miss also did not pitch its ace in its first regional contest. That ace is Golden Spikes semifinalist JB Middleton (10-1, 2.01 ERA). Fay's numbers contrast those; he is 1-2 with a 4.71 earned run average. Saturday will be Fay's eighth start of the season.

Fay did not pitch in the April 8 regular season game between Alabama and Southern Miss; he was still in the bullpen until a few days after that. In his last start, he went six innings and only allowed one run at the SEC Tournament against Missouri on May 20.

He can get swings and misses, but Fay is more of a ground-ball pitcher than Quick or weekend rotation counterpart Zane Adams. Adams is the only southpaw of the three. If Alabama loses to Southern Miss, Adams will not pitch again in the 2025 season unless he comes out of the pen Saturday.

First pitch in the nationally televised game (ESPN2) is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT. Alabama is the designated road team. The Golden Eagles, the top seed in the regional, are acting as the home team at Pete Taylor Park. In NCAA Tournament play, that doesn't always go without saying.