AUBURN | After four comfortable home wins to open the season, the road gets much tougher for No. 14 Auburn.

The Tigers will play No. 18 Iowa, Wichita State and No. 10 Virginia this weekend at the Jax College Baseball Classic in Jacksonville, Fla.

“Playing good competition helps you RPI-wise and it will answer a lot of questions of who we are and where we’re going,” said AU coach Butch Thompson. “It’s an opportunity. It’s a test. It’s a measuring stick.”

The Hawkeyes are led by junior All-American Brody Brecht, who was 5-2 with a 3.74 ERA and 109 strikeouts in 77.0 innings last season. The right-hander, whose fastball can top 100 mph, struck out 11 in a win over Seton Hall last Friday.

“He’s a top-end guy. He’s like an SEC pitcher,” said AU outfielder Chris Stanfield. “Going on the road facing him immediately will be a big test for us. I think we’ve prepared for it — effort and process — and I think we’ll be ready.”

The Shockers batted .342 and scored 36 runs taking 2 of 3 at Little Rock last weekend while the Cavaliers batted .374 with 16 doubles and eight home runs in a three-game sweep of Hofstra and a win over ODU.

“We get to go against three high-quality programs and get a baseline of where we stand right now early in the year,” said pitcher Tanner Bauman. “It’s going to be a good test for us to see how we do against these three good teams.

“Being able to prepare before conference to go into a different place, to get used to the rhythm of going on the road and staying in hotels, to figure that stuff out early is really important. It’s a big opportunity and we’re looking forward to it.”

Auburn will play Friday at 5 p.m. CT, Saturday at 11 a.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. All three games will be streamed exclusively on D1Baseball.com.

FINISHING STRONG: Nine AU relief pitchers hav e combined for a 1.84 ERA in 14.2 innings with 21 strikeouts and a .176 batting average against. AU’s bullpen has converted its only save opportunity and kept all five of its inherited runners from scoring. In two appearances, Bauman is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA and four strikeouts in 2.1 innings.

“I love our staff this year,” said Bauman. “I think we have a lot of different pieces that can play into a lot of different roles. I think a big thing this year is that a lot of guys have the ability to do different things.”

WHATEVER IT TAKES: The Tigers are batting just .246 through the first four games, which ranks 13th in the SEC, but have scored 39 runs, which ranks sixth, and has walked 38 times, which ranks second. AU’s leads the SEC with four triples.

“I think the effort and process has been good,” said Thompson. “I think we chased a little bit more Tuesday night but I think UAB did a masterful job of really throwing us tough sequences and I think they shot for the pin all night. I think we struck out nine times but we also had 13 free bases that was probably the difference in the game. Finding different ways to win makes you a stronger team.”

RUNNING WILD: Auburn has stolen 14 bases this season, which ranks second in the SEC. It took 20 games for AU to reach that total last season. Shortstop Cooper Weiss set an AU single-game record with four stolen bases against EKU Sunday.

“You can either have straight-away speed or just have the knack for it,” said Thompson. “We thought we had some of those pieces on our team. We’e made it a point of emphasis. We are going to take more risks and we did prepare to run more.”

A TIP OF THE CAP: Stanfield has pledged to donate $3 to the Miracle League of East Alabama every time his hat falls off during the game. He’s asked Auburn fans to match his donation at the following LINK. The Miracle League is a non-profit organization that provides an opportunity for persons with cognitive or physical disabilities to play baseball.

“I’ve been partnering with the Miracle League since I was in the eighth grade in Tallahassee,” said Stanfield. “It was really just special to me. I wanted to give back to kids with unique abilities. I’ve learned so many lessons in baseball so I thought it would be a great touch. The hats off was just kind of a fun way to bring it along with my hat falling off running around. I really think it’s important. Last year, we went there and it was great to see a smile on those kid’s faces. Something bigger than yourself is always bigger than yourself. So it was important to me.”