AUBURN | Auburn knows exactly what it needs to do and it controls its own destiny going into the final SEC weekend series.
The Tigers, tied with Texas A&M but holding the tiebreaker for the 12th and final spot in SEC Tournament, need to win their series at Missouri and at least equal the number of wins the Aggies earn at home against LSU.
Missouri, one game behind AU and TAMU, is also fighting for the final spot in next week’s SECT while LSU, with 11 conference wins, is hoping to increase their chances of an NCAA Regional bid by reaching the 13-win mark.
“It’s in our hands. There’s no gray areas,” said senior Rankin Woley. “It’s pretty cut and paste what we need to do. We need to go there and take care of business from pitch one, get a series win and let all the cards fall where they’re going to fall.”
After getting off to a 3-15 start, AU has won five of its last nine conference games including series wins over Georgia and TAMU to come into the final series 8-19.
Mizzou, 7-20 in the SEC, is coming off a series win at No. 3 Mississippi State, beating the Bulldogs 7-6 and 16-8 in the final two games.
“It looks like they’ve swung the bat and they’re fighting for their lives just like A&M, just like Auburn,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “Missouri is doing the same thing and they’ve swung the bats. A lot of right-handed hitters.
“The pitching has probably been similar to our pitching. But if you start looking at it, it’s pretty talented. There’s a lot of guys that are running some big, big arms out there. We’re going to see SEC arms for sure.”
Woley has been Auburn’s hottest hitter. In the last four games, three of which were wins. The senior is hitting .533 (8 of 15) with three home runs and eight RBI. His streak started after modifying the position of his hands in his batting stance to mimic Auburn student assistant Dan Gamache after watching him take a couple of swings in the batting cage last week.
“Looking at his hands, I was like, ‘I like that. Let me just flirt around with it a little bit.’ I did it in A&M game, did it in BP, liked it. Working so far,” Woley said. “Hopefully, it stays. I give a lot of credit to Dan for that one.”
Auburn is on a power surge, hitting 19 home runs in the last eight games, which brings the season total to 81, fifth-most in single-season program history. AU is fifth in the country and second in the SEC, just behind Arkansas’ 83 home runs.
The bullpen has also stepped up behind Carson Skipper, going 3-1 with a 2.82 ERA and 28 strikeouts in the last four games.
The Missouri series is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT Thursday and Friday night, and 2 p.m. Saturday. All three games will be carried on SECN+/ESPN+.
The 2021 SEC Tournament will be May 25-30 in Hoover with a single elimination first round Tuesday that pits seeds 5-12 against each other. The winners advance to the second round, which begins the double elimination phase that cuts the tournament to a final four. The semifinals and final next Saturday and Sunday are single elimination.
