HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610)- The first pitcher Alex Bregman faced upon his arrival at LSU was Aaron Nola. It did not go well.
“Well, this isn’t high school baseball anymore,” Bregman said to himself. “This is the SEC.”
The two will go head-to-head a decade later, but this time it will be on baseball’s biggest stage, when Bregman’s Astros host Nola’s Phillies in game one of the 2022 World Series.
“it's pretty cool to be able to face off against Bregman at this point of the season and in the World Series,” Nola said. “He's had such a good career over here with the Astros. He's such a good ball player. I know him really well and he's pretty much the same guy as when I first met him.”
Not only were Nola and Bregman teammates for two seasons in Baton Rouge, the two were roommates when the Astros third baseman was a freshman and Nola was a sophomore.
“He was neat, I was the messy one,” Bregman admitted. “He was super mature at a young age. I probably needed college more than him.”
Both players were drafted in the top 10 after leaving school, with Nola going seventh overall to the Phillies in 2014 while Bregman went second to the Astros a year later, and it didn’t take long for the two to develop into All-Stars, and Bregman knows he and his teammates are up against it on Friday when Nola takes the mound.
“He’s got elite command,” Bregman said. “He can put the ball wherever he wants to put it. Change speeds, change pitch shapes, tunnel pitches off of one another, and he's been doing that for a long time.”
The two former LSU stars squared off for the first time earlier this month and Nola got the better of his old roommate in both at bats. Bregman grounded out to shortstop in the second inning and popped out to third in the fifth. Nola struck out nine in 6.2 scoreless innings against the Astros on October 3 in a 3-0 Phillies win.