WATCH: Alabama HC Kalen DeBoer tosses out the first pitch in style for Crimson Tide Baseball
Kalen DeBoer showed off his arm strength but from a baseball mound. The Alabama Crimson Tide football head coach headed out to the Sewell-Thomas Stadium to deliver the first pitch of the game between Alabama baseball and the LSU Tigers on Friday. He did it in style and started the game, which went on to become a thriller for the home team.
DeBoer took over the Crimson Tide football program after a successful stint with the Washington Huskies that saw him coach in a national championship game. He succeeded the legendary Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa amid a lot of fanfare in January this year. Here is the clip of him throwing the first pitch of the Alabama vs LSU baseball game.
“Let's play ball,” the Crimson Tide baseball’s caption on Instagram read.
Kalen DeBoer proved lucky for the home team as they mounted a big comeback against their SEC rivals. Finding themselves down 7-3 in the eighth innings, the Crimson Tide went on to score five unanswered runs in the last two turns to seal the deal in the series opener. Three of those came in the eighth innings before LSU catcher Alex Milazzo’s fielding howler gave the Crimson Tide the game-tying and winning run. Alabama won 8-7 in a walk-off fashion amid cheers from the crowd.
Alabama now has a 31-18 overall record while being 11-14 in the SEC. The loss saw LSU’s overall record drop to 32-19 with their conference record being 9-16. Both teams will go at it again on Saturday in the second game of the series.
Kalen DeBoer’s plans for the first summer as Alabama head coach
Kalen DeBoer recently opened up about his plans as the new head coach of Alabama football. According to him, it is not much different from a couple of years ago when he took over the Huskies. All in all, the new boss seems to be relaxed and at ease in his seat for now.
“The one thing that over the last 5-8 years, the rules that the NCAA allows us to have where we can do more things with these guys. There’s still a limited amount of hours we can spend, but meetings and different times when we can be on the field with them,” he said at the keynote during the team's annual Team Focus Fundraiser.
It will be a big ask for Kalen DeBoer to fill the shoes of Nick Saban, who won six national titles with the Crimson Tide in 17 years. But he has shown that he can build a program to create a winning machine and fans in Tuscaloosa would want the same starting the 2024 season.