AUBURN | After struggling a bit in the fall, Cam Tilly has come out on fire in the spring.

The sophomore has been one of Auburn’s best pitchers during preseason practice.

“The arms that came back in January are really good,” said senior first baseman Cooper McMurray. “Cam Tilly really sticks out to me right now. He’s just been able to manipulate the ball in whatever ways he’s wanted so it’s been really, really good.”

Tilly, a right-hander, struggled to find his form returning from an oblique injury, but that’s changed since AU began full-squad workouts a couple of weeks ago.

“He’s a guy that hasn’t really been injured like that. He was upright and careful with that injury in the fall,” said AU coach Butch Thompson. “Now, it just looks like he’s really connecting to the catcher’s mitt, getting down the mound and throwing a ton of strikes.”

Tilly gained a lot of experience as a freshman last season making 14 appearances out of the bullpen. He was 3-1 with a 6.29 ERA with 27 strikeouts and 14 walks in 24.1 innings.

With 10 days until the opener, Tilly is one of a handful of pitchers competing for a spot in the starting rotation.

“If it’s 0-0, 1-0 or 2-1, he can land that breaking ball and that just changes at-bats,” said Thompson. “When you can throw a secondary pitch for a strike in any count, that just gives you a huge advantage.

“He’s throwing strike one, secondary pitch for a strike whenever he wants to and has got a good, live, healthy look to his fastball.”

Auburn begins the season against Holy Cross at Plainsman Park Feb. 14-16.

STARTING OUT: In addition to Tilly, junior RHP Dylan Watts has also stepped up this fall and is competing for a starting spot along with senior RHP Sam Dutton, junior LHP Cade Fisher and freshman RHP Christian Chatterton.

“Sam Dutton has been a leader in the clubhouse because we’ve made such a big deal out of strike percentage,” said Thompson. “Fisher has been there the whole time. Christian Chatterton is still in that deal. But I would say Tilly and Watts absolutely challenged some stuff this weekend and we need to see it again.”

SWINGING IT: After a fast start by the pitching staff, AU’s hitters struck back during intrasquad games last weekend. Ike Irish had a couple of home runs and during an offensive Sunday, Bristol Carter had four hits and McMurray and Eric Snow both homered.

“I felt like the first four squad games, the pitchers were a little bit ahead. Hitters were behind on timing,” said Thompson. “We probably had 65 percent strikes in the first four squad games, which is an improvement for our pitching staff. These last two days, our hitters’ timing has caught up and here comes a lot of extra-base hits and a lot of runs. Now, the pitchers have to go back and make some adjustment and figure out how to take the sting out of the swing.”

LEANING ON DEFENSE: Improving AU’s pitching was a big priority of AU’s offseason and that goes hand-in-hand with a strong defense. That gives veterans Snow, Eric Guevara and Deric Fabian the upper hand in the competition at shortstop second and third base. Three of the other contenders are freshmen in Addison Klepsch, Chris Rembert and Chase Fralick.

“We want to give more opportunities because we feel like we’ve got 12-13 guys that can hit,” said Thompson. “But if we’re going to improve our pitching staff and make our team better, we’ve got to pitch and that pitching must have good defense connected to it.”