AUBURN | A number of Auburn’s talented group of freshmen have already made a big impact this season.
None bigger than Chase Fralick, who leads Auburn and all freshmen nationally with a.488 batting average.
“I just think he’s very mature for his age and good bat-to-ball skills. I think he really helps us roundoff our lineup,” said Deric Fabian.
Fralick also has three doubles, one home run and 10 RBI in 12 games. He’s started games at catcher, third base and designated hitter.
“He’s never trying to do too much,” said AU coach Butch Thompson. “If it’s away, he’ll take it to left field. If you try to crowd him he can get to the pull side and not try to do too much. He’s having real at-bats and he has bat-to-ball skills and he has true confidence.
“He has a chance to be a true hitter and a consistent hitter for his entire career.”
No. 20 Auburn hosts Old Dominion for a three-game series in the final weekend tuneup before SEC play begins. Game times for the series are 6 p.m. CT Friday, 5 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. All three games will be on SECN+/ESPN+.
INFIELDER RETURNS: Sophomore Eric Guevara, who has missed the last nine games with a hamstring injury, is expected to be available this weekend. He started AU’s first three games at third base, and could rotate back into the infield with Eric Snow, Deric Fabian and Chris Rembert at third, shortstop and second base.
“Having him in and having a four-man rotation at those three infield spots makes us stronger,” said Thompson. “That way we can play three out of the four hot hands or get the best defense on the field late in the game. Hopefully, we feel like we can start doing that (Friday).”
SETTING THE ROTATION: Auburn would like to settle its weekend rotation against ODU. Sam Dutton on Friday and Christian Chatterton Sunday are coming off their best starts of the season, combining to allow just one run on four hits in 11.0 innings with 18 strikeouts. Saturday starter, Cade Fisher, who was returning from a back/lat injury allowed two runs on three hits in 1.2 innings. Thompson is hoping to get Fisher going this weekend.
“He’s made all his throwing opportunities this week for us to throw him back out there, but this is a huge weekend for us to size that back up before we really set into a rotation for next week,” said Thompson.
DEFINING ROLES: Auburn’s bullpen has performed well overall with three saves in three opportunities and a 2.75 ERA in 38 appearances. But many of the important roles have not been defined including the top setup pitchers and closer. In AU’s last three games, the bullpen has allowed 10 combined runs in final three innings.
“We must get better and we must get this defined a little bit more for us to have success,” said Thompson. “If we stay here, it’s going to be a challenge. We must continue to get better and hone in on some of these roles. Even though some guys have done a good job, just start to finish, it’s still got to grow.”
FAMILIAR FACES: Old Dominion is led by former AU assistant Chris Finwood and features catcher Jack Slater, the son of former AU coach Tom Slater. The Monarchs are 3-7 with all 10 games on the road while Bud Metheny Ballpark is undergoing renovations. ODU is batting .232 as a team and has a 5.40 team ERA and a .956 fielding percentage.
“They’ve lost four or five games by like one run,” said Thompson. “Their weekend rotation has under a 3.00 earned run average. We’ll see three left-handed starters. Well see some spin, some life. And they have almost 20 more strikeouts than innings pitched. So I think with where we’re at, as far as looking at the matchups in our conference, we might have our work cut out for us as much as anybody in our league.”
