Tuscaloosa -- A promising start to the Rains era at The Capstone met some up and downs during the season. After spending much of the first half in the top-10, the Tide began feeling the strain of depth and injuries that all teams have. Coach Rains continued to coach hard and took this teams into a regional showdown that would end in a final game against Texas A&M in the College Station Regional. Chuck Hurt caught up with Coach Rains after the team returned from College Station.

CH - Coach Rains, I know the season did not end quite the way you would hope, however, a runner up finish in a regional is quite impressive.

ER - Yeah, we did not finish the way we really wanted to. We talked all year about trying to play with a chip on your shoulder and maintain intensity. We lost some of that late in the year and you could see it in the W-L column. But the guys continued to battle and I am proud of what we were able to accomplish this year.

CH - Now that the season is over and you have time to rest and recoup, what are your plans?

ER - Well Chuck, honestly, the real work begins. We have some scholarship spots open and we are going to work extremely hard to fill those spots with guys that will buy into our style of ball here at Alabama. We feel that this is one of the best places for young men to come and receive an education along with playing in the toughest conference in college baseball. So, aside from a few days with the family here and there, we are committed to making this program a contender as quickly as possible. Our guys have already received their training assignments along with their summer and fall league invites and we will begin monitoring that closely as we prepare for next season.

Coach Rains sounds like he has already laid out a plan of attack to boost the Tide to the next level. With a strong signing day class, promising late signing period hopefuls and what is sure to be a heavy transfer portal, Coach Rains may make this a very scary team very quickly.

With rumors escalating about Merrimack head coach Sam Tomm leaving the program, these talks turned into action shortly after Merrimack's 8-6 loss to St. Mary's in the Oxford Regional. North Andover Post journalism and Merrimack Warrior beat writer Ray Davidson reported that the longtime Warrior coach Sam Tomm had left the program with intention to take a job at MAAC bottom feeder Manhattan College. Shortly following was a Manhattan social media release introducing their new head coach Tomm and a scheduled press conference. "This is an uncommon sudden turn of events and is a quick transition from rumors to action," says Davidson who was also one of the first to report rumors of Tomm leaving. Tomm will be leaving a Merrimack program that he has been with since their introduction to Division 1 athletics, leading them to a 139-70 Northeastern Conference record and to 4 NEC titles with a 5-8 postseason record. The Manhattan Jaspers will be his new landing spot and they are certainly going to pose a challenge for Coach Tomm. The Jaspers have been historically one of the worst teams in the NCAA, with a 294-622 all-time record and only 4 conference tournament appearances in their entire existence. They have been a program in despair, with little money funded into their program, very sparse recruiting interest and poor facilities. Jaspers AD Marianne Riley considered cutting the program but will now throw a hail mary to save the program with the hiring of Tomm. This will stretch the already limited athletic budget for the Jaspers, but it is their only hope to save the program and reinvigorate interest into the program from both recruits and donors alike. "We want to save our baseball program and the rest of our athletics programs for that matter," says Riley in a short Zoom interview immediately after the hiring. "Coach Tomm is an amazing coach who we trust to bring interest back into the program and save Jasper athletics." This is a huge and shocking story including one of the most hottest NCAA coaching changes in recent years. A struggling program in danger of folding manages to draw in one of the newest and promising coaching prospects in NCAA in hopes of saving the team. Tomm's interview will be conducted at 9:00pm ET and will hopefully provide insight into his decision and his plan to turn around Manhattan's program.

In a surprising turn of events rumors are swirling around the Merrimack College campus as inside sources on the team say head coach Sam Tomm. Tomm, the former Binghamton assistant, who has been with the team since their transition to Division 1 is, on the move. Tomm has brought the Warriors program into minor national relevance, taking home 4 NEC titles and having a 2-6 record in regional games. They are set to open this years playoffs against Ole Miss in the Oxford regional tomorrow. No official announcements have been made by either the Merrimack program or Tomm, but the same inside source says "It's almost a sealed deal that Tomm will be leaving Merrimack. It's only a matter of where." The source also goes onto say it will likely be a program in need of rebuild, rather than a power conference team. This will be a huge blow to the Merrimack team and a huge gain to whatever team lands Tomm. This story will be updated when more details are released to the public.

The Season 14 Draft is upon us once again. These are the players that will be leaving their school early to pursue their professional careers.

Tuscaloosa -- The atmosphere in Tuscaloosa is entering the waters that have long been forgotten. It has been 6 seasons since the Tide were relevant. First year Head Coach Easton Rains has the Tide feeling pretty good at the moment, sitting #2 in the SEC standings and in the top 15 of the country. This is a position that has become connected with Rains after his 7 year run at LIU. Now, Rains has his Crimson Tide team playing competitive ball well ahead of schedule. It is still early, but after four SEC series, the Tide sit solely in 2nd place behind Kentucky, whom the Tide will see during the final week of the season. Look for this Alabama team to be an underdog performer and continue to play with a chip leading into the final weeks of the regular season.

Tuscaloosa -- The Crimson Tide of Alabama have gotten off to a great start under new coach Easton Rains. Changing the culture has been a priority of Rains since stepping on campus, continuing the blueprint he started at LIU over the past seven seasons. The Tide sit 6-0 to start the season behind strong pitching and timely contributions from a strong, united offensive front that has seen multiple faces in the lineup. Time will tell if the Tide can continue their strong start and work to earn the #21 ranking it now possesses.

Eli LeBlanc had agreed to part ways with North Texas, and despite success, this came after he only managed to pull in 3 commits. The coach has decided to move on to James Madison, where he hopes to find success!

Tuscaloosa -- This afternoon Athletic Director John Cochran and University President Glen Blair addressed the media in regards to the contract details of Head Baseball Coach Easton Rains.

The contract signed by Rains is for 5 years during which his full salary amount is scheduled to be $9 million, not including performance bonus and incentives. Both parties have agreed to these terms and are looking forward to a very exciting Season 14.