AUBURN | Daron Schoenrock has coached college baseball for 38 years with his main emphasis on pitchers.

Throughout that time whether as a pitching coach or head coach, he’s emphasized one important point.

“Strike one. I love teaching strike one,” said Schoenrock, who goes by Coach Rock.

That’ll be vitally important to an inexperienced and young AU staff this season that includes 13 newcomers, nine of which are true freshmen. Joseph Gonzalez returns as a No. 1 starter but the rest of the positions in the starting rotation and bullpen are pretty wide open.

“We’ve got to build the rotation,” said Schoenrock. “We’ve got some freshmen that are going to really vie for some starting and some big roles. The arm talent that Karl (Nonemaker) and Gabe (Gross) and Butch (Thompson) brought in is outstanding.

“We just got to get them honed in and pointed in the right direction and that’s what the fall scrimmages are for is to really evaluate who can handle those game moments, who can handle adversity, who can handle the physical load of being a pitcher at this level. That’s what we start to process on now.”

Schoenrock and Thompson, AU’s 8th-year head coach, have a long-standing relationship starting in 1991 when Schoenrock recruited Thompson out of junior college to pitch for him at Birmingham Southern.

Thompson was actually a two-way player at Itawamba (Miss.) Community College.

“He wasn’t going to be the next Babe Ruth,” joked Schoenrock. “He was a left-handed hitter and there were a lot of foul balls going over to the third base dugout. So he couldn’t quite get to that fastball like he could in junior college. And we decided it wold be better for him to throw those fastball instead of try to hit them.”

Schoenrock called Thompson “ultra competitive” as a bullpen pitcher at Birmingham Southern for two years. A couple of years later, Thompson was back at BSC as Schoenrock’s pitching coach.

The two have remained close friends and were in each others weddings.

“What an unbelievable career he’s had,” said Schoenrock. “He has an uncanny way of showing up in Omaha wherever he’s coached. There’s no secret to it that what he does in leading programs and leading pitching staff — I’ve been watching from a distance and been very, very proud of him. Getting to join his staff and serve him now is just the ultimate exciting times for myself and my wife, Carol.”

Auburn hosts Louisiana Tech in an exhibition game Saturday at 1 p.m. CT. The Tigers will host Alabama Oct. 28.