Brock Guffey signing with Crimson Tide

One of the top pitchers in the Birmingham metro area has found a home in the SEC.

Brock Guffey, the ace pitcher for the Class 7A state champion Hoover High School baseball team, is now set to sign with the University of Alabama, he told the Hoover Sun on Thursday.

Guffey shut down opponents all season, posting a record of 11-0 in 15 appearances (13 starts) with a microscopic 0.57 ERA and 0.76 WHIP. He struck out 111 batters to just 11 walks on the year, and was a major factor in Hoover's comeback win over Auburn in the state championship series.

He pitched a shutout in Game 2 of the series after the Bucs lost the first game of the series. In Game 3, Guffey entered in the sixth inning and notched the save to lift the program to its second title in school history.

Guffey was originally slated to attend Wallace State Community College, but his monster senior season piqued the interest of many other schools.

"Due to a successful season, I got a lot of attention," Guffey said.

He got calls from various schools, including Samford, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State, and was considering all three. But on his way home from Mississippi State, a new school made its interest known.

The phone call from new Alabama coach Brad Bohannon -- who was hired away from Auburn -- was a pleasant surprise for Guffey.

There was already a relationship established between the two earlier this season, when Bohannon was an assistant at Auburn. Bohannon saw Guffey pitch and sent a letter of interest in the mail. 

"As soon as the phone call popped up, I had already known him and we had already had that relationship," Guffey said.

So on the way home from Starkville, Guffey needed to make an additional stop along U.S. 82 in Tuscaloosa. He's glad he did.

"It felt at home and it was special," Guffey said. "There's just something about that Alabama 'A.'"

Guffey grew up a Texas fan, and he joked that he is still bitter about Alabama defeating Texas in the 2009 football national championship game, but now he's all in on the Tide.

"I'm so excited," he said.

Guffey expressed gratitude for the chance that Wallace State gave him to play there, but the chance to play at an SEC school was too much to pass up.

"I was extremely thrilled to go to Wallace State. I had a lot of opportunities in the fall, but Wallace State felt like the right place for me to go to at the time. It will always have a special spot in my heart, because that was the first spot that gave me a chance."