AUBURN | Tommy Sheehan started Auburn’s opening game against Oklahoma and five days later started the home opener against Troy.

Then he didn’t pitch for the next 11 days.

It wasn’t because of any issues related to last year’s partial Tommy John surgery. It was simply because Sheehan wasn’t pleased with his first two outings.

“After two starts, he wanted a break to go work on stuff,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson told the Auburn Network after Sunday’s 14-1 win over Rhode Island. “So Tuesday we threw 32 pitches to hitters before the game against Alabama State and he felt like that was good. He was able to set some stuff and make an adjustments.”

Sheehan allowed one run on two hits in his first two outings, but he walked four and only had two strikeouts.

“I just felt a little out of sync with a couple of things the first couple of times out. I’m still coming up on a year out (of surgery), said Sheehan. “I felt like I needed a little bit of a breather from game action to get some work in on the side, and I think that worked out for me this week. I think it was a good improvement from the last two outings.”

Sheehan, a Notre Dame transfer, closed out Sunday’s win over the Rams with 3.0 no-hit innings, striking out five and issuing one walk.

“He gave us three good innings with a good fastball,” said Thompson. “Getting him up and down three times with how solid he looked, that was exciting for us.”

BREAKOUT WEEK: Jake Wyandt came to Auburn from Presbyterian as a defensive catcher and it showed in AU’s first eight games as he went 0 of 9 at the plate. That changed in a big way last week as he went 6 of 16 at the plate with one home run and 10 RBI.

“He has worked and invested so much in making these pitchers better,” said Thompson. “It’s really nice to see the offense catch up this week. It’s nice to see him be rewarded for how much he’s invested and put everybody else first.”

GOOD HANDS: Auburn committed just one error in six games last week and is currently second in the SEC with a .991 fielding percentage. AU has played error-free baseball in five straight games for the first time since 2015. “We’ve talked about consistency and the thing we’ve done the most consistently is play defense,” Thompson said. “And we’ve done that for this entire week. Really, the entire season.”

NEXT UP: Rhode Island left Auburn with an 0-10 record but the Tigers will face a much tougher opponent in Wednesday game, which was moved back a day due to forecasted rain. Auburn (11-2) will play Tennessee Tech at Toyota Stadium in Madison, Ala., which is the home of the Rocket City Trash Pandas. Tech is 10-0 on the season including a win at South Alabama. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT. AU hosts Middle Tennessee for a three-game series this weekend.

ON THE MOUND: Auburn junior right-hander Mason Barnett (1-0, 1.12 ERA) will face Tech junior left-hander Brock Smith (0-0, 99.00). Mason is coming off one of the best starts of his career holding UAB to a run on two hits in 5.0 innings with eight strikeouts last Wednesday.