Alabama went 2-1 at the Frisco College Baseball Classic to take home the championship, led by star shortstop Justin Lebron, who was named the tournament MVP.
Game 1: Alabama 12, Iowa 2
Alabama bounced back from its midweek defeat and beat the Hawkeyes 12-2. It was the first time the two teams faced off.
Alabama hit three home runs, including a grand slam from Lebron in the ninth inning. Eight of Alabama’s nine starters recorded at least one hit.
First baseman Luke Vaughn hit a three-run homer in the first inning to get the Crimson Tide on the board, followed by center fielder Bryce Fowler hitting a solo shot to make it 4-0 in the third.
Gable Mitchell got one back for Iowa in the fifth with an RBI single before Alabama kept piling it on. A Peyton Steele single and a Lebron double made it 6-1 for Alabama before a fielder’s choice made it 7-1 for Alabama in the eighth.
Kellen Strohmeyer got another back for Iowa to make it 7-2, but Alabama shut down the comeback in the ninth. Fowler got walked with the bases loaded before Lebron hit a grand slam, the team’s first grand slam since March 15, 2025.
“I’m very familiar with that team and that coaching staff and I knew we were going to have our hands full,” head coach Rob Vaughn said. “We threw a haymaker there in the first with a three-run homer and [Tyler] Fay did what he did. Just unbelievable tempo, tons of strikes.”
Fay lasted six innings, allowing only five hits and one earned run with three strikeouts. Sam Mitchell and Ashton Crowther came in from the bullpen and allowed only a combined four hits and one earned run in three innings.
Game 2: Alabama 8, No. 19 Oregon State 7
Alabama took down Oregon State 8-7 in a thriller to claim the Frisco Classic championship.
Fowler set the tempo immediately, hustling for a leadoff double on the first pitch of the game. After moving to third on a passed ball, Fowler came home on an RBI fielder’s choice from designated hitter John Lemm to give the Crimson Tide a 1-0 lead.
Alabama broke things open in the third as Lebron lined a single to center before catcher Brady Neal launched a two-run homer to left, pushing the lead to 3-0. A couple of batters later, third baseman Jason Torres crushed a solo shot to make it 4-0.
In the top of the fourth inning, Tuscaloosa native Eric Hines crushed the first home run of his collegiate career, extending the lead to 5-0 and ending Beavers starter Ethan Kleinschmit’s day. The Crimson Tide added another run on an RBI fielder’s choice from Vaughn to build a commanding 6-0 cushion.
Zane Adams was sharp early, striking out four and working around traffic through four scoreless innings. But the Beavers stormed back in the fifth when Josh Proctor crushed a two-run pinch-hit homer, making it 6-2. An RBI double from Easton Talt and an RBI single by Cooper Vance trimmed the lead to 6-4 and ended Adams’ outing after 4.2 innings.
Matthew Heiberger replaced Adams and surrendered a solo homer to Adam Haight in the sixth, cutting the Crimson Tide’s lead to 6-5. The Crimson Tide answered in the seventh when Vaughn singled and later came home on a Steele sacrifice fly to provide a critical insurance run. In the eighth, Lebron delivered again, ripping an RBI double into the left-field corner to stretch the lead to 8-5.
Heiberger settled in after giving up the home run and tossed 2.2 innings, allowing the one run on two hits and walking a batter before handing the baseball over to North Florida transfer Kaden Humphrey. Humphrey recorded the final two outs of the eighth, setting up a save opportunity for Hagan Banks in the ninth inning.
The ninth was anything but routine for Banks and the Crimson Tide; the Beavers loaded the bases with nobody out. Easton Talt dunked an RBI bloop single to left field, and another run came across on an error from Lebron to make it 8-7 with no outs and the bases still loaded.
It looked like the Beavers were going to tie the ballgame on a sacrifice fly to right field, but Steele fired a strike to the plate to cut down the tying run on a bang-bang play that stood after review for a classic 9-2 double-play. Moments later, Lebron bobbled another groundball, but this time he recovered from another miscue and flipped to second for the final out, sealing the win.
“It’s about making plays, not making errors,” Vaughn said. “It’s about making plays, and Peyton Steele had just an unbelievable game-saving play. Just an incredible effort by the guys. Heck of a baseball game.”
Game 3: Houston 8, Alabama 2
Alabama fell in its final game of the series to Houston by a final score of 8-2.
Houston took the lead in the third inning and never looked back. Dylan Maxcey got it going with a single, driving in two runs. Maxcey added one more in the fifth to make it 3-0. Houston would then score two more in the fifth, thanks to a fielding error and a sac fly to make it 5-0.
Fowler then got Alabama on the board with an RBI double to make it 5-1. However, Houston kept piling it on with Irvin Weems III driving in another run on a single, making it 6-1.
Lebron would hit his second homer of the series, to make it 6-2. However, Houston picked up some insurance runs with two more runs in the ninth to make it a final score of 8-2.
Myles Upchurch got his first career Alabama loss, lasting 3.2 innings, allowing four hits, two earned runs and four strikeouts.
The bullpen struggled to control the damage. Vaughn turned to the bullpen four times, allowing a combined seven hits and six runs, with two of them unearned.
Alabama’s next matchup will be at home against Jacksonville State on Tuesday, March 4, at 4 p.m. CT.
