Jason Jackson opens up on what it means to see everyone rally around Alabama baseball program

Alabama baseball interim coach Jason Jackson doesn’t take for granted the support the fans have given the team this postseason. The Crimson Tide played their final home game of the 2023 campaign on Sunday, defeating Boston College 8-0 to advance to their first Super Regional since 2010.

Alabama sold out every game of the Regional it hosted at Sewell-Thomas Stadium this past weekend, with 5,800 fans gathering Sunday to watch the Crimson Tide move on. As the team hits the road hoping to punch its ticket to Omaha this week, Jackson explained how important that fan support has been for them.

“It’s been awesome to see the way our university, our fanbase, the community has rallied around these guys,” he said. “I’ve always felt like this place is special. We have such a great culture here. I’ve always felt like that and then the past month or so you’ve seen it even more so than I thought. So it means a ton and I know these guys feel the same way.”

Alabama won all three of its contests this past week. The Crimson Tide first dispatched Nicholls State and Troy before taking out the Eagles on Sunday to claim the Regional crown. In Sunday’s game against the Eagles, pitcher Jacob McNairy struck out a career-best 11 batters and allowed only three hits in 7.2 innings.

With the win, the Crimson Tide move on to face top-seeded Wake Forest in a best-of-three Super Regional series that is set to begin on Saturday. The Demon Deacons turned in a dominant performance in Regional play, outscoring all three of their opponents by an astounding 48-7 and striking out a total 50 batters. That in mind, Alabama faces a tall task if they are to upset the No. 1 seed.

If the Crimson Tide can somehow pull that off, they would reach the College World Series for the first time nearly 25 years. That is impressive on its own, but even more so considering that Jason Jackson has been acting as the Alabama head coach for only a month. He had to get the team back on track after coach Brad Bohannon was connected to a pair of bets placed on a contest between the Crimson Tide and LSU and promptly fired.

The team’s pitching coach, Jackson has led Alabama to a 13-4 record since taking on the interim role. Now he’ll hope to add a few more wins to that resume and will hope that fans can make it out to Winston-Salem to watch the team attempt to take down Wake Forest.