For anyone who was at Sewell-Thomas Stadium to watch Alabama’s season-opening series against Florida Atlantic this past weekend, you probably did not come away with high hopes for the rest of Alabama’s season. Three games, zero wins. Total score throughout the series: FAU 23, Alabama 8. Sounds kind of depressing, doesn’t it?

Well, it is, but don’t worry. The fact of the matter is Alabama is a young team. Like, extremely young. Consider this: Of Alabama’s 40-man roster, over one-third are freshmen. And no matter how amazing of an offseason a player has, how much natural ability or how much hype out of high school, there will always be growing pains in the early goings. Raw talent can only take you so far. Especially when a third of your team has never played in a college series before. Still, the talent is there for this team. But what’s more important for this team is the leadership from experienced players. Of Alabama’s six leaders at the plate from last year, five have returned for this year. Veterans like Jared Reaves and Taylor Dugas will be the rocks for Alabama as the rest of the team find their footing. They’ll play a huge part of Alabama’s success in the future by not only being the leaders this team needs, but by leading through by example. Reaves and Dugas had batting averages of .364 and .455, respectively, in the weekend series against the Owls. Having that kind of talent in leadership roles is only going to mean good things for Alabama. Speaking of rocks, another of Alabama’s constants is head coach Mitch Gaspard. Gaspard has seen consistent success at Alabama and has shown that the Tide has the ability to make special things happen. So long as Gaspard is coach, Alabama will always be relevant. Something else of interest is Alabama’s start from last year. The Crimson Tide started off their season with four straight wins. Despite the fantastic start, they then followed up by losing four straight. Much like this year, that’s not the kind of start Alabama needs to have for their season. Still, Alabama got on track for the rest of last year, making it all the way to the Regionals in Tallahassee, Fla. They were able to overcome their early-season difficulties. And that’s what this team will have to do. Thankfully for Alabama, they will get that same chance in their very next series this weekend against the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Lions. The Lions are also coming off being swept in their first series of the year. This weekend will provide Alabama with the perfect opportunity to gain some momentum heading into the rest of the season. And I’d much rather lose my first three games and then win three than vice versa. The last thing to keep in mind is that everyone has cobwebs to shake off from the offseason. All the players will be a little rusty. Not many teams are able to start their season hitting the ground running. There will always be mistakes to be corrected, new pitching orders and lineups to try out and things to learn that can only be learned from in-game experience. Give this team some time, and I think the talent will start to show. The potential is there. The talent is there. The leaders are there. The coach is there. Alabama has everything it needs to be successful this year. They’ve been presented a challenge, and with it, an opportunity to overcome. All they have to do is seize it.