Tigers looking for turnaround

AUBURN | It’s been a rough few weeks for No. 21 Auburn culminating in a sweep at No. 5 Arkansas last weekend and a 12-3 loss at Samford Tuesday.

The Tigers have an opportunity to right the ship this weekend as Mississippi State visits for a three-game series. Auburn is 23-11 overall and 4-8 in the SEC while the Bulldogs are 18-16 and 4-8.

“You’ve got to keep fighting and regroup,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “All of those things are jumbling in your head when you’re not having success in baseball. I guess in 26 seasons of college baseball every team I have been a part of and played on and been with has always gone through something. Once you get ready for another weekend in the SEC, because it happens, when you do regroup you realize this is a marathon and not a sprint.”

Most of Auburn’s issues have come at the plate. In 12 conference games, AU is batting .203 overall, .235 with runners in scoring position and a paltry .128 with two outs. The Tigers overall batting average has dipped from .317 to .279 since the start of SEC play March 16.

A team meeting Saturday night yielded results in the first three innings of Sunday’s game at Arkansas as Auburn took a 4-0 lead, but Jake Reindl came in to strikeout nine of the 23 batters he faced over the final 7.0 innings and AU gave up three unearned runs to give the Razorbacks the sweep.

Then came Tuesday night’s debacle at Samford in which Auburn struck out 10 times and five pitchers combined to allow 12 runs on 18 hits including four home runs.

“We got to figure something out to get back that mentality that we’re good, everything is good,” sophomore Conor Davis said. “After being through a season of SEC play and seeing the ups and downs, it’s a grind. You got to stay on course. That was the biggest thing coming out of our players meeting is we got to get our swagger back. We got to figure this out.”

First pitch Friday night at Plainsman Park is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network. Saturday’s game will start at 2 p.m. and Sunday’s finale at 1 p.m., with both games airing on SECN+ and WatchESPN.

TEAM NOTES

** Thompson had meetings with several players this week including Brendan Venter, who is hitting just .119 with no extra-base hits in the conference.

“When you sit down with somebody man-on-man, you kind of get the real picture,” Thompson said. “I think I have a great sense of where his heart’s at, where his focus is at. Pressing? Yea, this is a kid that really cares a lot. And I’ve got to protect him so that’s part of the deal. I think we’re going to stick in there a little bit longer. We had a great meeting.”

** Thompson said freshman Judd Ward has earned an opportunity for more playing time after hitting .400 with a double in Auburn’s last five games. The left-handed hitter may be limited to a pinch-hit role in the first two games of the series with MSU throwing two left-handed starters.

“I think he’s given us a really good jolt right now and he’s absolutely going to get an opportunity,” Thompson said. “Just because he doesn’t start the first game of the series doesn’t mean he’s not going to be in there and contribute and have an at-bat.”

** Auburn is ninth in the SEC with a .279 batting average, 11th with a 3.98 ERA and 13th with a .972 fielding percentage. MSU is 12th in hitting (.268), ninth in pitching (3.55) and 11th in fielding (.973).

** The Bulldogs have hit a league-low 17 home runs. Jake Mangum is hitting .358 with 12 doubles and is 11-o-11 in stolen bases. Luke Alexander is hitting .248 with four home runs and 24 RBI.