Baseball is an unforgiving sport. The game is essentially built on how well a player can manage failure and still produce on the field at a high level.

Sophomore T.J. Reeves got a taste of that unforgiving game firsthand to start this season, batting .167 with five hits and 12 strikeouts through the first nine games. In last weekend’s series against Harvard, Reeves had a breakout three games, going 5 for 8 with three RBIs, two walks, a double and one home run that pushed the Crimson Tide ahead 4-3 and to an eventual win in the series finale.

“It felt pretty good,” Reeves said. “[Head coach Brad Bohannon] and [hitting coach Jerry Zulli] have been in the cages with me working on staying on the fastball, laying off curveballs in the dirt.”

There are similarities between Reeves’ starts in 2019 and 2020. Not many starts were granted to the Hueytown, Alabama, native early last season. A strong finish to the season saw Reeves reach base safely in 15 consecutive games from March 16-April 9 and finish second on the club in home runs (nine) and slugging percentage (.482).

Alabama has also started similarly to last season following a 13-0 start, but after a 16-2 start last year, it finished the season at 30-26. This season the Crimson Tide enters its 14th game of the year as one of only four remaining unbeaten D-I teams, alongside Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina State.

“It feels different this year. I feel like our bats are in a whole different place,” Reeves said. “We have so much energy coming out of the dugout and in the locker room. We jell so good with each other; I feel like every game we go out there we can win.”

Reeves and junior Tyler Gentry are the only returning Alabama players who hit more than five home runs last season. Sophomores Drew Williamson and Sam Praytor and senior Brett Auerbach are the only others who hit at least one in 2019.

This season, the Crimson Tide has hit 20 home runs, with 11 of 13 games featuring a long ball and five of those games with multiple base-rounders. Gentry is outpacing his power from last year with four home runs this season, Auerbach already passed his 2019 total with three, and Praytor, now healthy after an elbow injury last season, leads the team with five long balls.

Two newcomers, freshman Owen Diodati and junior transfer Jackson Tate, have hit four and two home runs, respectively. The new reinforcements have brought power and that has allowed Reeves to settle in more at the plate.

“I feel more comfortable and it’s nice to know that if I’m not producing at the time, someone else will,” Reeves said. “It’s nice to have confidence in your teammates like that.”

The 1997 Alabama baseball squad is the only team in NCAA history to have four players hit 20 or more home runs in a season. Twenty-three years later and 13 games into the 2020 season, Praytor, Gentry and Diodati are all on pace for 20-plus home runs, with Auerbach just outside that magic number.

Alabama will put its second-best start in school history on the line this weekend, hosting Lipscomb for a three-game series. Over the first 13 games, Alabama is outscoring its opponents 117-35, averaging nine runs a game and has had nine games with double-digit hits.

The Crimson Tide lineup is backed by the same for the trio in its weekend rotation. Freshman Connor Prielipp (3-0), who is one of only 27 D-1 pitchers that have yet to surrender an earned run this season, will get the start on Friday. Of the other 26, only nine have pitched more innings than Prielipp’s 15.0.

Sophomore Connor Shamblin (1-0) will start Saturday and freshman Antoine Jean (2-0) will finish the series on Sunday.

“This year we’ve taken that step and we’re owning it a little more,” Shamblin said. “These freshmen that have come in are really mature, and they’ve helped a lot with the success we’ve had so far.”

Alabama is chasing the 1997 squad and history this weekend, as it needs a sweep of the Bison to break the 15-0 record for a start to a Crimson Tide season. Lipscomb (8-3) won its three-game series against Ohio State last week. If Alabama can finish the weekend having added three to the Bison’s loss column, this Crimson Tide team will go down as having the best start to a season in school history.

“I think it’s a big deal, and if you set a record at a program like this, it’s pretty stinking cool,” Bohannon said. “I want to get that record.”