AUBURN | Coming off a series sweep of Cincinnati, Auburn plays five games at Plainsman Park this week beginning with Tuesday night’s contest against UT Martin.
RECORD: 9-2
RANKINGS: Perfect Game (15), Baseball America (17), USA Today Coaches (18), D1Baseball (19), NCAA RPI (84).
SCHEDULE: UT Martin Tuesday, 4 p.m. CT; UT Martin Wednesday 4 p.m., UTSA Friday, 6 p.m., UTSA Saturday 2 p.m., UTSA Sunday 1 p.m. All five games will be on SECN+.
NOTES:
** A look at how Auburn ranks in the SEC: .275 batting average (12th), 10 home runs (tied 6th), 16 stolen bases (6th), 2.38 ERA (5th), 116 strikeouts (8th), .967 fielding percentage (11th).
** Tanner Burns was named the SEC Pitcher of the Week after striking out 15 batters and allowing just two hits in a complete game 5-0 win over Cincinnati Friday night. The sophomore right-hander is 2-0 on the season with a 0.92 ERA, 29 strikeouts and three walks in 19.2 innings.
** In his first weekend start, sophomore left-hander Jack Owen held the Bearcats to three hits and no runs in Saturday’s 5-0 win. He struck out 10 and didn’t issue a walk in 7.0 innings. Owen is 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA, 22 strikeouts and two walks in 16.0 innings.
** Elliott Anderson leads Auburn with five appearances out of the bullpen. The junior left-hander is 2-0 on the season with a 0.68 ERA, 17 strikeouts and three walks in 13.1 innings. He has a career 8-0 record.
** Auburn pitchers combined for 37 strikeouts in the sweep of Cincinnati, the most in a three-game series since also striking out 37 at Ole Miss May 9-11, 1997. The Tigers walked just two batters, which is the fewest since two against Alabama May 12-14, 1995.
** Rankin Woley leads the team with a .379 average, six doubles and 13 RBI. The junior college transfer also has a triple, home run and is second on the team with a .622 slugging percentage. Edouard Julien has a team-best four home runs and is second with 11 RBI. Kason Howell is second on the team with a .342 average and is tied for the team lead with four stolen bases.
** Freshman second baseman Ryan Bliss has a team-best nine-game hitting streak. He hit his first-career home run against Cincinnati and is batting .350 in the last five games.
** In his last four games, Steven Williams has four-straight multi-hit games, including a pair of three-hit efforts.
** Matt Scheffler caught all 27.0 innings this weekend including Saturday’s doubleheader.
** Auburn has won 13-straight non-conference series. SEC play begins next weekend as Tennessee visits Plainsman Park for a three-game series beginning Mar. 15.
** The pitching matchups for UT Martin: AU So. LHP Bailey Horn (0-0, 9.00) vs. UTM Jr. RHP David Hussey (0-2, 8.68) on Tuesday, and AU TBA vs. UTM Sr. RHP Austen Bullington (0-1, 7.71) on Wednesday.
** UT Martin’s coaching staff has a strong Auburn connection. Head coach Ryan Jenkins and assistant Hunter Morris both played and coached at Auburn, and were part of the 2010 team that hit 131 home runs. Heath was Auburn’s hitting coach in 2009.
“We were doing catching drills when I was coaching (Jenkins) here and I was hitting pop ups in the machine and he went to catch his pop up and threw his mask and put six stitches in my eyebrow. So we want to see if we can get him two losses here to give him payback,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson joked.
“You want to play people you love and you care about and to seem them want to come back. That they want to be back in Auburn is awesome. Now he’s a head coach and I’m proud of him. He’s going to bring his team in here to play.”
