AUBURN | Auburn can look at this week as sort of a reset.
After finishing the first half of SEC play 2-13, it’s certainly needed. The Tigers will have to have a fantastic finish in order to even be considered for postseason play.
“We need this second half to be a full role reversal,” said Butch Thompson on Andy Burcham’s This Week in Auburn Baseball podcast. “There’s a lot of proud guys that are proud of those two Super Regionals, proud of that Omaha run, that are searching for answers. We’re trying to get them to keep fighting because opportunities continue to exist.”
Auburn has been competing and just coming up short in most of its games. Of the 13 conference losses, eight have been by one run and two more by two runs.
The hitting and defense have been good enough to compete. AU is hitting .290 as a team, third-best in the SEC, and has a .977 fielding percentage, which ranks sixth.
But Auburn’s 5.36 team ERA ranks 13th and it’s only worse in league games at 7.25. In losing 2 of 3 games at Alabama last weekend, Auburn’s starters were 1-0 with a 7.50 ERA and the bullpen was 0-2 with a 6.28 ERA.
In what has been a continuing problem, AU’s pitching staff walked six batters, hit two batters and threw seven wild pitches at Alabama. AU is eighth in the SEC with 124 walks, fifth with 28 hit batters and 11th with 36 wild pitches.
“We’ve definitely been overly patient, maybe too patient in making some adjustments,” said Thompson of AU’s pitching staff. “We’ve made little changes that are hard to see along the way but maybe a little more radical adjustments will be coming this week.”
MIDWEEK MASH: Two midweek games against Samford and Jacksonville State could allow Auburn to build up some positive momentum going into this weekend’s series against No. 15 Florida. Auburn is 5-0 in midweek games this season, and has out-scored its opponents 73-17 including last Tuesday’s 7-3 win at Georgia Tech.
LONG BALL: Auburn ranks seventh in the NCAA with 51 home runs and has a home run in nine of its last 10 games. During the 10-game stretch, which includes nine SEC games, AU has hit 19 home runs including multiple home runs in seven games. AU now has five players with five or more home runs: Tyler Miller (10), Ryan Bliss (8), Steven Williams (7), Bryson Ware (6) and Kason Howell (5).
DOUBLING UP: Auburn leads the NCAA with 36 double plays turned this season led by shortstop Bliss and second baseman Brody Moore. The duo have played side by side in 30 of 31 games with Bliss missing one with an injury.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Steve Williams. He kept grinding and it finally paid off this week as Williams broke out of his hitting slump to go 7 of 16 (.438) at the plate with a double, triple, three home runs and nine RBI. Williams caught all four games and when he went to right field late in Sunday’s game, he made a nice running catch close to the fence. Cam Hill batted .500 in two games with a double and Kason Howell .357 with a double, two home runs and three RBI.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Carson Swilling and Peyton Glavine (tie). Swilling allowed one unearned run in two appearances out of the bullpen, picking up his first-career save and AU's third of the season at Alabama Saturday. He struck out all three batters he placed in the ninth inning at Georgia Tech and then struck out three and allowed just one hit in 2.0 innings against the Tide. Glavine threw 5.0 scoreless innings with two hits in two appearances. He struck out three and issued just one walk. Jack Owen had a quality start holding Alabama to three runs in 7.0 innings.
NEXT UP: Auburn will host Samford Tuesday and Jacksonville State Wednesday. Both games will be 6 p.m. CT on SECN+/ESPN+. Trace Bright (3-3, 7.13) will start Tuesday and Mason Barnett (2-2, 4.22) Wednesday. Both will be limited to a couple of innings. The Tigers host No. 15 Florida for a three-game series this weekend beginning Friday at 6 p.m. on SECN+/ESPN+.
