Alabama baseball is sending its ace to the mound to begin this weekend’s Hattiesburg Regional. During a Zoom call with reporters on Thursday, head coach Rob Vaughn announced that redshirt sophomore Riley Quick will get the start for the Crimson Tide (41-16) for its regional opener against Miami (31-24) at 2 p.m. CT on Friday.
“The starting pitcher just carries so much of the emotion of the game with him,” Vaughn said. “He sets the tone. He sets everything for the game. I think that’s why we love kicking off the regional with Riley Quick. He’s tough as nails. It’s stuff, it’s all of that stuff. But that dude loves Alabama more than anybody, and we know what we’re going to get out of him.”
Quick (8-2) recorded a 3.54 earned run average with 64 strikeouts over 56 innings pitched this season. The 6-foot-6, 245-pound right-hander did not pitch in last week’s SEC Tournament and hasn’t taken the mound since earning the win in Alabama’s victory at Florida on May 16.
“I laughed with him the other day,” Vaughn said. “I said, ‘Riley, we didn’t pitch you in Hoover, man. So I’ll see you for 120 [pitches] tomorrow. I don’t know if we’ll let him go 120, but we are going to pull the reins off a little bit and let that kid run. He’s ready for it.”
Quick pitched just three innings last year before suffering an elbow injury that led to Tommy John surgery. His season-high pitch count of 96 came in a 5-2 win at No. 1 national seed Vanderbilt, where he gave up two runs on four hits while striking out nine batters. Quick has thrown 80 or more pitches in each of his last seven outings.
“I feel great,” Quick said. “I’m really excited to get the ball in Game 1. I know everybody behind me is going to be ready, and they’re going to be doing their thing. And if I do get to go 120 pitches, that will be really fun, too — throwback to the high school days. But I’m excited. I feel really good. The rest was definitely needed, and I’m ready to go.”
Quick served as the second starter in Alabama’s weekend rotation throughout the season. While leading off the weekend will be a slight alteration to the status quo, Vaughn said he doesn’t expect it to affect his ace’s rhythm.
“The beautiful thing about Riley Quick is Riley Quick is who he is every single day of the week — good bad or indifferent,” Vaughn said. “Like him or love him, he’s going to be himself. And that’s what makes him awesome. That’s what makes me have to smack him in the head sometimes when he does stupid stuff. But it’s what makes him a beautiful kid is you are getting the ultimate competitor. You are getting a football player standing on the baseball field in the middle of the diamond. You’re getting that whether its a scrimmage on a Tuesday in the fall or whether it’s Game 1 of a regional, that’s just who Riley is.”
Quick, who flashes a 98-mile-per-hour fastball along with an effective changeup and cutter, is projected to be a first-round pick in July’s Major League Baseball draft. Friday will offer him an opportunity to showcase his stuff against a dangerous Miami lineup that features three players with a .345 batting average or higher. While Quick said he isn’t focused on the upcoming draft, he looks forward to proving himself this weekend.
“It’s definitely exciting going up against a good lineup like this,” Quick said. “It’s a chance to showcase what I have for sure.”
Southern Miss (44-14) earned the No. 16 national seed and will host this weekend’s double-elimination regional. The Golden Eagles will begin play against Ivy League champion Columbia (29-17) on Friday night. The winners of both Friday games will meet Saturday in the winners' bracket, while Friday’s losers will face off in an elimination game on Saturday.
During Thursday’s Zoom call, Vaughn said he will determine the rest of this weekend’s pitching rotation based on who Alabama is playing.
