Mitchell gets the call in Baton Rouge

AUBURN | Butch Thompson is shaking up his starting rotation for this week’s series at LSU.

Andrew Mitchell will replace Davis Daniel in the rotation and start Thursday night’s game. Keegan Thompson will start Friday and Casey Mize Sunday. It will be a homecoming for Mitchell, a native of New Orleans, who began his college career at LSU in 2014 when he redshirted before transferring to a junior college and eventually landing at Auburn for the 2016 season.

“In some way he’ll be able to look back after this is over and that will be a special night,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “I did see where a lot of his family is coming to be with him. It’s really not, ‘Hey, start Andrew because you're going to LSU.’ It’s really because that’s our next starter up. It’s kind of neat to work out that way but he just needs to focus on making pitches and getting us off to a good start.”

After a rainout last Friday, Keegan and Mize both pitched in a doubleheader Saturday and Thompson wanted to move their starts back to give them an extra day to recover. He didn’t want to move Daniel up to Thursday after the freshman pitched Sunday.

“We expect Davis to still have a huge factor this weekend and believe in him,” Thompson said. “I think Davis can help us out of the bullpen behind Keegan or Mize.”

In Mitchell last start against Arkansas on April 23, he earned the win holding the Razorbacks to a run on three hits in 5.0 innings. The next weekend, he held Mississippi State to a run on seven hits in 4.1 innings out of the bullpen.

Mitchell struggled against Alabama Saturday allowing four runs, two earned, in 1.1 innings before bouncing back Sunday to limit the Tide to a hit in 0.2 innings.

“I think (LSU’s) two best hitters are left-handed,” Thompson said. “If he can go out and give us a Mississippi State start or the five innings like he did to Arkansas back-to-back weeks and it keeps these guys from having to shorten their outings too much.”

Mitchell will have an opportunity to help break No. 14 Auburn’s season-high four-game losing streak with a strong outing Thursday. AU enters the series 32-18 overall and 14-10 in the SEC, one game behind LSU for second place in the SEC West.

“Going back home and pitching against those guys I think is going to be really special for him. I think he’s really looking forward it,” Mize said.

Game times for the series are Thursday at 6:30 on ESPNU, Friday at 7 p.m. on SECN+ and WatchESPN and Saturday at noon on the SEC Network.