Butch vs. Bo in Capital City showdown
AUBURN | Butch Thompson will square off against his former protege Brad Bohannon for the first time Tuesday night as No. 9 Auburn plays Alabama in the Capital City Classic.
Bohannon served as Thompson’s top assistant for two years at Auburn before accepting the head coaching position at Alabama.
“I appreciate Brad like crazy and a lot of these players do,” Thompson said. “A lot of these players that will try and compete and beat him tomorrow night have an appreciation for him helping them get to Auburn University. That relationship won’t change just like my relationship with anybody over time won’t be affected by a ballgame, but I know what it means to our fans and I know what it means to us and our success in this series.
“I’ll remind our players of every bit of that and who we represent. We want to play well. I think it’s less about the coaches and more about the players and it’s our job to them ready to compete in one of the best rivalries in all of college sports, period.”
Auburn holds an 8-1 advantage over Alabama in the Capital City Classic including three-straight wins. The Tigers won 4-3 last season as the bullpen held the Tide without an earned run for the final 5.2 innings.
“It will probably be different,” said senior second baseman Luke Jarvis of playing against his former coach. “I know he’s pretty competitive so he’ll want to win that one, but it will be cool. We all love Bohannon so it will be a cool experience to play against him.”
The Tigers will send freshman left-hander Jack Owen (0-1, 6.10 ERA) to face Tide junior right-hander Mason Duke (2-0, 0.00). Duke has struck out 18 and issued just three walks in 15.2 innings.
Alabama, 16-9 overall and 1-5 in the SEC, is hitting .292 as a team lead by Chandler Avant. The senior second baseman is batting .365 with 10 doubles and 27 RBI. Junior right fielder Chandler Taylor is batting .259 with nine home runs and 24 RBI.
First pitch at Montgomery’s Riverwalk Stadium is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. CT. The game will not be televised or available for streaming.
TEAM NOTES
** Auburn is 20-5 overall and 3-3 in the SEC. The Tigers host Missouri this weekend for a three-game series. Auburn plays a three-game series at Alabama April 20-22.
** Owen is starting his second-straight midweek game. Outside of the fourth inning at Georgia Tech last week, Owen had allowed two runs in his first 10.0 innings pitched.
** Junior first baseman Brendan Venter continues to lead Auburn with a .365 average along with six doubles, four home runs and 18 RBI. He’s just 2-for-20 in the last five games, however.
** Will Holland is batting .364 with seven RBI during a current six-game hitting streak. Holland has recorded an RBI in four straight games.
** Jarvis has recorded a hit in seven of the last eight games and has gone 11-of-29 (.379) over that stretch. Jarvis has also recorded a hit in 16 of the last 19 games.
** Click HERE for the latest on injuries to Cody Greenhill, Andrew Mitchell and Josh Anthony, plus Butch Thompson video.