AUBURN | Just three days after giving up three runs in 0.2 innings in a loss at Kentucky, Carson Skipper will taker the mound to start No. 20 Auburn’s opening game of the SEC Tournament Tuesday night.
He’ll be facing the same Wildcat lineup.
"My trust in Skipper hasn’t stopped,” said AU coach Butch Thompson. “He got ambushed on the first pitch as soon as he came in that ballgame so we started with a leadoff double.
“He’s still a senior. He still has an Auburn degree in hand. He’s still somebody this team will get fired up for.”
In AU’s lone SEC Tournament game last year, Skipper came out of the bullpen to hold Ole Miss to two runs on three hits in 3.2 innings, striking out six.
He’s been a primary reliever for AU this season going 5-3 with a 4.81 ERA in 21 appearances. He’s thrown in 64 career games including eight starts as a freshman.
“Get through the lineup one time and get to our bullpen, which we’ve used a lot here lately. Hopefully they’re ready,” said Thompson. “Skipper will be kind of a dark horse call, but one we’re excited to throw out there.”
Thompson said weekend starters Trace Bright and Joseph Gonzalez along with reliever Chase Allsup won’t be available to pitch in the tournament until Friday. Bright and Gonzalez started last weekend and will be counted on to pitch the opening games on an NCAA Regional while Allsup has appeared in three of AU’s last four games.
No. 5 seed Auburn, which finished the regular season 37-18 overall and 16-13 in the SEC, will play No. 12 seed Kentucky at approximately 8 p.m. CT at the Hoover Met.
The Wildcats, 30-24 overall and 12-18 in the league, took 2 of 3 from the Tigers last weekend.
THEN THERE WERE THREE: Sonny DiChiara joined Tim Hudson (1997) and Hunter Morris (2010) as the only Auburn players to be named SEC Player of the Year. The Samford transfer is hitting .382 with 15 doubles, 17 home runs and 47 RBI. The Hoover native will be returning home to play in the SECT.
“I don’t even think I can put into words, to be honest with you,” said DiChiara. “All the days I’d go up there at 9:30 and watch the morning games and leave the field at 2:30 a.m. Just being there all day and seeing how electric and how important each game is out there and how those guys just fight for everything. I can’t wait to fight too. It’s going to be fun.”
THE NEXT PHASE: A college baseball season can be divided up into non-conference play, conference play and the postseason. Auburn has reached the postseason in position to host an NCAA Regional for the first time since 2010 and potentially be a national seed. The first taste of tournament play begins Tuesday night.
“This is a chance to kind of feel like back’s against the wall and you have to win,” said Thompson. “That’s how it’s going to be from this point forward. And if you’re going to be challenged, I’m ready to go down with the guys that have done it before and been in the frame before.”
PITCHING MATCHUP: Facing Skipper with be UK graduate right-hander Sean Harney, who is 5-4 with a 2.93 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 58.1 innings. He picked up the save Friday holding AU without a hit in 3.0 innings. This will be his fifth start of the season.
