AUBURN | No. 11 Auburn’s pitching staff will face a monumental challenge this weekend at No. 2 Georgia.
In six conference games, including five wins, the Bulldogs have hit 24 home runs and scored 76 runs, both tops in the conference. The Tigers are off to a quality 4-2 start hitting six home runs and scoring 35.
Overall, Georgia leads the league in 10 hitting categories including hits (292), runs (282), home runs (74), RBI (257), slugging percentage (.632), on-base percentage (.466) and hit by pitch (72).
That powerful offense has led UGA to a 25-2 record with the only losses coming 6-2 at UNC Wilmington Feb. 16 and 10-7 at home to Kentucky.
UGA has out-scored its opponents 282-135 this season.
“Just looking at these numbers, they are out of sight,” said AU coach Butch Thompson. “At the end of the day they have basically met no adversity this year. Big offense. Big emotions.
“We’ll have our work cut out for us to go and try to create any adversity for them because they haven’t met it yet.”
For Auburn to show the Bulldogs a little adversity and come out of Athens with a series win or even one win, it’ll certainly need to pitch well and not give up free base runners. It would also be a big boost if AU could take a step forward on offense.
"There needs to be a specific plan for each pitcher,” said Thompson. “I think most home runs are thrown and these guys have hit twice as many as we have and we’ve hit a bunch. I still think our offense is coming and it’s exciting to know.”
Game times for the series will be 5 p.m. CT Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday. Saturday’s game will be on SEC Network while Friday and Sunday’s will be in SECN+/ESPN+.
POTENTIAL OPPORTUNITY: While Georgia’s offense has been impressive, its pitching has had its share of issues. The Bulldogs are 14th in the SEC in team ERA (4.97), 16th in walks allowed (123), 12th in home runs allowed (27), 13th in hit batters (32) and 16th in wild pitches (27). Auburn hit four home runs in a 13-5 win over South Alabama Tuesday.
“You’ve seen a couple of guys get hot for a few games,” said Ike Irish. “But you haven’t seen all nine of us really link it up and play good baseball together, which is exciting because we’ve had some good offensive games. But we’ve still got more in the tank.”
NOT HOT: Since returning from a fractured scapula, Irish has 11 hits in 20 at-bats with two doubles, four home runs and seven RBI in four games. “I wouldn’t call it a hot streak,” said Irish. “I’d just call it being myself again. I think the first four weeks of the season, I was a shadow of myself in the box. When I finally took a deep breath, I think that injury could be the best thing for me because it gave me a chance to reset mentally and just be able to perform.”
PIECES MULTIPLYING: Auburn has seen several bullpen pitchers step up over the last couple of weeks. Carson Myers allowed just one unearned run in three appearances last week while Parker Carlson was 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in two appearances. John Armstrong has allowed just two runs in his last five outings totaling 7.0 innings.
“I think we’re believing in more and more pieces,” said Thompson. “The two appearances by Carlson last week were huge. Armstrong is getting multiple appearances a week. I think Myers got three appearances last week. I feel like some depth is trending.”
PITCHING MATCHUPS: AU will go with Sr. RHP Samuel Dutton (3-1, 2.48) Friday, Jr. LHP Cade Fisher (0-0, 5.40) Saturday and TBA Sunday. Christian Chatterton, who has been AU’s Sunday starter this season, has given up 10 earned runs in his last two starts combined. UGA will counter with Gr. LHP Charlie Goldstein (0-0, 9.00) Friday, Jr. RHP Brian Curley (2-0, 2.41) Saturday and Jr. RHP Leighton Finley (2-0, 6.33) Sunday.
