AUBURN | After missing last weekend’s series at LSU with an ankle injury, Ike Irish is set to return for this weekend’s series against Ole Miss.
It couldn’t come at a better time with the Tigers trying to make up ground in the race for the final spot in the SEC Tournament.
Irish, who injured his ankle April 21 as he was working back from a hand injury, participated in a five-inning intrasquad scrimmage Tuesday.
“The first three at-bats, he hit two home runs and a single. Everything was hit hard. He’s a spark plug for our team,” said freshman Cale Stricklin, who has filled in for Irish at catcher.
Irish, who is batting .326 with 11 home runs and 48 RBI, is expected to be used mainly as DH this weekend.
Two other AU starters are working their way back from a hand injury. Mason Maners returned against LSU but is still working the rust off after missing two weeks. Bobby Peirce, who hasn’t had an at-bat in three weeks, will remain limited this weekend.
“I think Bobby’s day-to-day,” said AU coach Butch Thompson. “I think he’ll definitely be on the 27-man. He could play in a game and could have a few at-bats. I’m not sure you can expect to have him the entire weekend.”
Without three of its top sluggers, Auburn has hit just .182 in its last six conference games with six extra-base hits. In the five league losses before Sunday’s 7-5 win at LSU, AU hit .138 with two extra-base hits.
The dip in hitting has coincided with a resurgence in a pitching staff that came into the MSU series two weeks ago with a 9.07 ERA in its first 15 conference games.
In the last six SEC games, AU’s pitching staff has compiled a 4.75 ERA. In their last six starts, Dylan Watts, Tanner Bauman and Carson Myers have combined for a 3.95 ERA with 23 strikeouts in 27.1 innings.
“The injuries positionally, it was a horrible time for that to happen,” said Thompson. “Hopefully this weekend, if we can get back guys enough … I’m still fighting for us to play our best baseball.”
The Tigers enter the weekend last in the SEC with a 3-18 record. AU is three games behind Missouri (6-15) for 13th place and four games behind Ole Miss (7-14) and LSU (7-14) for the 12th and the final spot in the SEC Tournament.
After this weekend’s series against the Rebels, AU travels to Missouri and then finishes at home against Alabama, which is 9-12 in the league.
“This is our postseason,” said Thompson. “I don’t know if we have to go 7-2, 8-1 or 9-0 to get to Hoover. It depends on others and our hole’s a little bit deeper than everybody else. We know we have to play way above-average baseball and try to hook it up."
The series is scheduled for Friday night at 6 p.m. CT, Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Friday’s game will be on SECN+/ESPN+, and Saturday and Sunday’s on SEC Network.
