AUBURN | Auburn gets its first look at a dominating Coastal Carolina pitching staff Friday night in the opening game of the Auburn Super Regional.
Up first for the Chanticleers will be Cameron Flukey, who is 7-1 on the season with a 3.12 ERA.
“He's going to present an induced vertical break, which means ride on the baseball through the strike zone of about 26 inches,” said AU coach Butch Thompson. “And we probably faced in the Southeastern Conference of 22, 23. So he's an outlier coming in here in a fastball that he possesses, analytically, tomorrow that we haven't seen.
“We don't say that very much. The only way we can duplicate that since we haven't seen it in our conference is in the batting cage and with a machine.”
That rising fastball helped the sophomore right-hander lead Coastal with 102 strikeouts in 86.2 innings. He issued just 18 walks.
In his last two starts, Flukey has allowed just two runs on eight hits in 14.0 innings with 19 strikeouts and two walks.
“I think we’ll know in the first three batters whether it’s really going to ride or not,” said Auburn All-American Ike Irish. “We’ve got two out of our first three hitters, me and Chris (Rembert), we really have flat swings through the zone.
“Normally with ride guys if you have a flat swing, you don’t really have to change much. But if it misses up or you’re swinging under it, you’ve got to make an adjustment.”
Flukey made a big jump in his second year in the Coastal program after going 3-3 with a 5.73 ERA as a freshman last season.
“He’s got a competitive edge that is a separator for him,” said Coastal coach Kevin Schnall. “Obviously, he’s got a really good fastball, really good stuff. The thing that’s been awesome to see him grow from last year is just his maturity, being able to manage innings so much better this year.
“In my opinion, he’s, if not the, one of the best sophomore pitchers in the country. And we’re fortunate to have him on our team.”
Coastal also has a talented bullpen led by senior right-hander Ryan Lynch, who is 2-1 with a 0.61 ERA and seven saves, and sophomore left-hander Dominick Carbone, who is 6-0 with a 2.25 ERA and five saves.
Coastal is 36-0 when leading after six innings.
Schnall hasn’t named a starter for game two but it’s expected to be sophomore right-hander Jacob Morrison who is 11-0 on the season with a 2.19 ERA.
“Pitching-wise, it’s power stuff,” said Irish. “It’s power from the first two guys and the third one is a sinker-baller so not as much power. On the backend, they’ve got a power lefty and a power righty to close it out. I think as an offense, we’ve got to try to win the middle innings.”
The Super Regional at Plainsman Park gets underway Friday night at 8 p.m. CT and continues Saturday at 2 p.m. Both games will be on ESPN2. An if necessary game three Sunday will be TBD.
