Alabama baseball hopes to host the NCAA area this weekend. Instead, the crimson trend will travel about 180 miles south of I-59 to Miss South, where it will serve as the No. 2 seed in the Hattiesburg area.

Alabama (41-16) will play a double elimination tournament on CT Friday at 2 p.m. After that match, host Miss South (44-14) will compete in No. 4 seed Colombia (29-17).

The complete schedule for the area is as follows:

Friday

2pm - Match 1: Alabama vs. Miami

6pm - Match 2: Miss South and Miss Columbia

Saturday

2pm - Game 3: Losers in Game 1 vs. Losers in Game 2

8pm - Game 4: Champion of Game 1 and Winner of Game 2

Sunday

2pm - Match 5: The winner of Game 3 vs. The loser of Game 4

6pm - Match 6: Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 4

on Monday

TBD - Game 7: Champion of Game 6 vs. Losers of Game 6 (if necessary)

Here’s what you need to know about Alabama entering the area.

Justin LeBron | SS | So.

Justin LeBron may be the top pick for next year's Major League Baseball Draft. Currently, his focus is on becoming the best player in the region this weekend. The second batsman for the Tides led the team with 18 home runs, 72 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. He has also been appointed as the SEC full defense team.

Riley Quick | sp | R-SO.

Riley Stick, Alabama’s ace pitcher, will ride on the mound to start the tide’s opener against Miami. The 6-foot-6 and 245-pound right-hander had a record of 8-2, with an average score of 3.54, scoring 64 strikeouts in 56 innings. Quick is regarded by many as a right-handed college pitcher in this year's draft class. He is expected to be selected in the first round of the MLB draft in July

Kade Snell | lf | R-SR.

Kade Snell is the captain and third place in Alabama. He led the team with a batting average of 0.366 and a benchmark of 0.462, hitting just 16 of 205 bats. He has a team-high 23 multi-attack games, including seven consecutive games from March 16 to 28.

Carson Ozmer | Cl | gr.

Carson Ozmer is Alabama's close-up, having created a record of 17 saves for the program's single-season record. Pennsylvania's transfer has a 2.89 ERA with 48 strikeouts and 17 walks in 37 innings.

Daniel Cuvet | 3b |So. |Miami

LeBron may be the best overall player in the region this weekend, but Daniel Cuvet is the most productive batsman. Miami third basemen hit .378 with 16 home runs and 76 RBIs. His 10 of his last 12 games dates back to April 26.

I ciscar | sp | fr. |Miami

Miami will send a real freshman to the mound facing Alabama on Friday. AJ Ciscar won the ACC ACC ALCHMAN honors this season, 5-1 with a record of 3.77 ERA and 56 strikeouts, earning 14 walks in 57 innings. The right-hander gave up a hit while defeating the six-inning batsman in six innings in a 15-1 win over Notre Dame on May 16.

JB Middleton | sp | Little | Miss Southern

Miss Southern will save Ace pitcher JB Middleton on Saturday, meaning Alabama beat Miami on Friday and may face him. The junior year record was 10-1, with the 2.01 ERA hit out at 114, while 24 walks in 98 innings. Middleton has been dominant this season but was shocked in his loss to Alabama last year, giving up three runs on four hits and failing to retire on 13 courts.

Sam Miller | SS | Little | Colombia

Colombia won't do much damage this weekend. That being said, the Lions have a dangerous batsman in Sam Miller. The Ivy League Player of the Year hit .342 and hit with 16 home runs and 55 RBI hits. One of these home runs started Joe Bedsheets when Georgia started when he lost to the Bulldogs on March 9.

It doesn't work to cry at everything you can't control, but Alabama is reluctant to host the region in this year's NCAA Championship. According to Warren Nolan, Tides ranked 13th in RPI and hit the toughest schedule for No. 20. These two top-ranked hosts, Miss Southern, rank 19th in the RPI and 67th in the 67th. Last month, that hasn't even beat the Tides 10-6.

"We all feel we should be receiving," LeBron said on Thursday on a Zoom call with reporters. "Obviously, the committee felt rejected. So for us, we're definitely going to play with chips on our shoulders. So we can certainly prove something."

Vaughn is as frustrated as Alabama, but points out that the people who earn the hosting website are in the hands of his team. If the Tides win the SEC series in the regular season, the game this weekend may be in Tuscaloosa.

"I think it's one thing we have to look in the mirror and say, yes, yes, the host is great, you, you, yes, yes, it's great," Vaughan said on a Zoom call on Thursday. "I think we have a complimentary resume, but there are probably 20 teams in the country, and only 16 of them can do it. So we take care of the good things, we do something different, maybe there's no doubt throughout the year. We have some questions about that. What we're left with is the stuff out there. So there's something in these kids.

Alabama's ace will go all out to enter Friday's regional opening against Miami. Quick didn't pitch in last week's SEC Championship and hasn't won the championship since winning with a 9-6 victory at the Tide on May 16.

"I laughed with him the other day," Vaughan said. "I said, 'Riley, we didn't send you in Hoover at the guy. So tomorrow I'll meet you 120 (court). I don't know if we'll let him go 120, but we're going to put the re-string out a little bit and let that kid run. He's ready for that."

Quick had surgery for Tommy John in February 2024, and he threw 80 or more balls in each of his last seven outings. This includes a season-high voting of 96 against No. 1 national seed Vanderbilt on May 3.

“I feel good,” Quick said on Thursday’s Zoom call. "I'm really happy to get the ball in the first game. I know everyone behind me will be ready and they'll be doing their own thing. If I can really go 120 balls, it's really fun, and it's also fun - back to high school. But I'm so excited. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. What's left is necessary and I'm ready."

Alabama was beaten last year’s NCAA Championship in two games after suffering back-to-back losses in Central Florida and Stetson in the Tallahassee area. When asked if this year was powering his team, Vaughan quipped, trying to forget the collapse of last season, noting that “this is not a good performance for the boys.”

"We were scratching, clawing, fighting to get into the playoffs, and I think we were just being honestly beaten," Vaughan said. "I thought our guys were tired. I thought they were emotionally exhausted. I thought it needed everything they got there and we didn't have enough time when we got there.

"So, this is the mentality we started from the first day of fall. I said, 'Man, no one can remember your beginnings. For the first time since 2002, you won 41 times since the record won in 2002, and we went on to win 17 games.' No one would talk about what if we went, if we went, two this weekend, no one would remember the same way this year because you remember people’s end, and it’s our first day of information, people remember how you did it."

In addition to Alabama’s focus on completing the game, the early exports last season taught the trend to be a game and brought its A-game, no matter who it is moving forward.

"I think that's one of the things we struggled last year," LeBron said. "We kind of take UCF and Stetson for granted. And, we didn't play the best baseball because we think we're just going to be with everything we have.

"Playoff baseball, everyone is good. Whether you're in a mid-term, it doesn't matter; it doesn't matter what it is. Everyone is good, and they have the potential to beat you."