Jason Jackson appreciative for opportunity to lead Alabama, addresses Brad Bohannon situation
Alabama baseball interim coach Jason Jackson was appreciative of the opportunity to lead the Crimson Tide amid the firing of Brad Bohannon. Alabama fired Bohannon amid a betting scandal after rumblings of suspicious activity. It was a situation that came out of left field, no pun intended.
The Crimson Tide fell to 31-16 with a 5-1 loss to No. 5 Vanderbilt and Jackson opened up on the recent activity surrounding the program.
“I want to thank Greg Byrne, I want to thank Dr. Bell for having the confidence in me to allow me to lead this great group of guys,” Jackson said. “You know, I’m really excited about this stretch run that we’ve got. I know there’s some things that happened this week, and I’m sure you guys got questions on it and we appreciate your coverage. I respect what you do. I’m not going to be able to get into any of that tonight and I just want you to understand that …
“I just go one day at a time. I mean, it takes every bit of focus to get ready to play (a top) team in the country tomorrow. So that’s where your head’s at, just getting ready for Vanderbilt tomorrow and try to win the series.”
The Crimson Tide started Garrett McMillan on the mound and he allowed four runs on seven hits, gave up a walk and delivered three strikeouts across six innings. Alabama’s offense couldn’t get going.
“This was a really well-played game tonight from both teams,” Jackson said. “Obviously, their starter was very good – Hunter Owen – he pitched great. He had all four pitches going and did a great job of kind of shutting down our offense, which has been on fire and really clicking on all cylinders. We played well, too.
“Garrett McMillan had a really good start, navigated through some tough innings early on, but he seemed to get better as he went. Then, Hagan Banks and Aidan Moza did a good job coming out of the bullpen and keeping the game where it was. We just couldn’t ever get anything going.”
Alabama coach Brad Bohannon fired amid betting scandal
Jackson took over for Bohannon amid the coaching change. It was a rocky week for Alabama baseball.
The Ohio Casino Control Commission first reported “suspicious wagering activity” at the BetMGM sportsbook at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Ohio, involving the Alabama-LSU game on Friday and multiple states began to halt bets on Alabama baseball, according to ESPN.
According to Ronnie Johns, the chairman of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, via a report from NOLA.com, two bets were under scrutiny, including one large bet.
“There were a couple of bets made in Cincinnati, Ohio,” Johns said. “One was on a parlay which involved the LSU-Alabama game, and then there was another straight-up (money line) bet, I was told it was a large bet that involved LSU-Alabama.”