Seriously? Another midweek loss?

[waregl87 0]

Tigers lose to Samford, 9-8, in extra innings tonight. Wow, this is ridiculous. So far this year we've lost midweek games to Bethune Cookman, Troy, Jacksonville State, South Alabama and Samford twice. Pretty pathetic. All these teams, with possibly the exception of Troy, are far inferior in talent level to us, and we just don't show up.

You can call it overreaction if you want, but I call it a disturbing trend. These guys are two more losses from not being eligible for postseason play (record is now 25-23) and they're laying eggs in what have become meaningful midweek games. There doesn't seem to be any sense of urgency, and that's not a good sign.

We've got Alabama State at home tomorrow night. Think we can beat them?

Let's see what you're made of guys. War Eagle!

[blayton23 0]

AU is just an average team this year. There is no pitching depth on this team and not sure our coaches kmow how to evaluate pitching. I hope im wrong but this their 3rd year and the pitchers on this team couldnt play for any other team in the country. Hope this is just a rebuilding year but it has been very painful to watch this team slop around. Coaches need to teach fundamentals and pitching in the off season.

[waregl87 0]

AU is just an average team this year. There is no pitching depth on this team and not sure our coaches kmow how to evaluate pitching. I hope im wrong but this their 3rd year and the pitchers on this team couldnt play for any other team in the country. Hope this is just a rebuilding year but it has been very painful to watch this team slop around. Coaches need to teach fundamentals and pitching in the off season.

Absolutely hit the nail on the head. No offense to the guys playing for these smaller schools, but when AU's pitching gets shelled like it has in these midweek games, AU's got a serious talent problem when it comes to pitching. Beyond Varnadore and Jacobs (who has really come on as of late), there's virtually nothing.

I really feel bad for this offense. Sure, there have been some games where the offense has sputtered, but for the most part, this offense has been putting up runs all season. It's just that we need about 10 or 15 to have a chance to win.

[AuburnTigers1 0]

Guys, you shouldn't have to teach fundamentals at the college level. Teaching fundamentals went away in Little League. You can brush up on fundamentals, but baserunning, bunting, fielding groundballs, etc should be second nature to these guys. As I've said before, not a huge CJP guy "yet", but the blame isn't completely on him. Inabilty to make routine plays in the field or run the freakin bases is inexcusable at the D-1 college level! END OF STORY!!

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

Come on now....even Major Leaguers make errors and base running mistakes. Those things can be worked on at any level, and a lot of the errors in fielding would be eliminated with  better performances on the mound.

AU's problems, IMHO lies in the failure to develop a secure pitching staff. It all begins and ends with pitching. Varny is the only kid we have who is consistently good. The others show good stuff occasionally, but it doesn't hold together long enough to win. And the bullpen can't hold on to a lead through even one inning of relief. That makes any mistake in other areas of the game that much worse.

[blayton23 0]

Fundamentals are worked on in all levels of baseball from little league to the majors. That is why teams take infield. If guys such as McElroy cant field a groundball, then they should sit. Maybe be a dh. Major leaguers do make errors that is a fact. However, this team has players that seem to make errors in half the ballgames on routine plays. But i do agree the main problem with this team is lack of pitching. I sure hope they can somehow find some pitchers to come in and contribute. Just havent been show that CJP can evaluate or develop pitching

[AuburnTigers1 0]

I said in my post that they can "brush up on the fundamentals". The point I was making that was completely missed is that we shouldn't have to have our coaches taking a lot of time to "teach" these fundamentals. I played college baseball. There wasn't any coaches out there teaching us how to catch ground balls. We already knew how. That's why they gave us that piece of paper that said they would pay for our tuition. If you couldn't do those simple tasks, you sat on the bench. The following year you wouldn't have a spot on the team period.

[blayton23 0]

Having played baseball for nearly 20 years, if a player continued to make the same mistake over and over, he was" taught" how to do it corerctly. If not, not only did the player not have a position but the coach didn't have a job. Should a college shortstop know how to field a groundball, absolutely. Obviously ours don't and there isn't anyone better behind them.

[Ronald McDonald 0]

The coaches can only do so much. I'll leave it at that.

[Cat4AU 0]

The coaches can only do so much. I'll leave it at that.

Need new coach on 3rd base line. Not just my opinion but a lot of upset AU baseball team fans and ones who really stand behind this team.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

The Auburn Tigers are not evne an average team. Losing to Samford twice then to Jacksonville State, Bethune Cookman, Troy and South Alabama should never happen.

[TigerPaw1 0]

The coaches can only do so much. I'll leave it at that.

True but part of his job is getting the kids to do theirs.... This has been a disappointing season from the head coach down

[AUAeroEngineer 0]

How is having a good chance to win your division during a REBUILDING YEAR bad coaching? He's made a few questionable decisions, but overall he's done well

[AuburnTigers1 0]

My question to that would then be: Why are we "rebuilding" in his third year as HC? Shouldn't this be where we start to see the fruits of his recruiting? We keep throwing out winning the West. Let's face it, the West isn't very good this year. We are a below .500 team in the conference this year. It's not like we're winning a ton of games and competing in a tough division. If the west was as strong as the east it would be a whole different story. I'm not trying to argue with you Fish because I know you know what you're talking about. I'm just making an easy observation.

[DecaturAU 0]

For those of you that think Samford is a bad team, you need to double check that. I can honestly say that right now Samford is the best team in the AL. Swept AU, swept UAB, and got robbed of a sweep of bama. Samford has one of the best pitching staffs in the nation and has one of the best hitters in the south as well.  I do not consider this a bad loss at all. Samford is just a great team.

[waregl87 0]

For those of you that think Samford is a bad team, you need to double check that. I can honestly say that right now Samford is the best team in the AL. Swept AU, swept UAB, and got robbed of a sweep of bama. Samford has one of the best pitching staffs in the nation and has one of the best hitters in the south as well.  I do not consider this a bad loss at all. Samford is just a great team.

Samford may not be a bad team, but they're not great, and they have no business beating us. Period. Sweeping us is bad and sweeping UAB isn't saying much (UAB is next to last in its conference). Bottom line is we shouldn't be losing games like this. They don't have the same kind of talent we do collectively and they don't play the same caliber of schedule we do.

You can sugarcoat it if you want to, but these midweek losses have been bad.

[DecaturAU 0]

Your right, technically we shouldn't be losing to Samford based on athletic success. But again Samford is playing the best of any team in the state at the moment. And like I said earlier, they have one of the top pitching staffs in the nation according to MLB scouts I've talked to at games.  Not sugarcoating anything, just trying to open some eyes.

[AU60 0]

Samford also has an excellent coach who is the son of a great high school coach and an Auburn graduate. Unfortunately his sister is an outstanding pitcher for the turds softball team and has thrown several no hitters this year. Pawloski walked into an almost unbearable situation at Auburn and has lost a lot of seniors every year. He has signed several very good pitchers who were subsequently drafted so high they took the money from the pros. He is a good coach in my opinion. He just needs a few good fielders who can hit 350 with power and a half dozen pitchers who can thro strikes in the mid nineties instid the mid seventies.

[waregl87 0]

Samford also has an excellent coach who is the son of a great high school coach and an Auburn graduate. Unfortunately his sister is an outstanding pitcher for the turds softball team and has thrown several no hitters this year. Pawloski walked into an almost unbearable situation at Auburn and has lost a lot of seniors every year. He has signed several very good pitchers who were subsequently drafted so high they took the money from the pros. He is a good coach in my opinion. He just needs a few good fielders who can hit 350 with power and a half dozen pitchers who can thro strikes in the mid nineties instid the mid seventies.

This is a good point. A LOT of our pitcher signees have elected to go pro, hurting us a little bit.

[AU60 0]

It is really a shame to sign some outstanding pitchers and then they never get to campus. Then some of them leave as juniors after another draft. I wish they could not do that but I do understand the money is very persuasive.

[92AUGRAD 4]

Samford also has an excellent coach who is the son of a great high school coach and an Auburn graduate. Unfortunately his sister is an outstanding pitcher for the turds softball team and has thrown several no hitters this year. Pawloski walked into an almost unbearable situation at Auburn and has lost a lot of seniors every year. He has signed several very good pitchers who were subsequently drafted so high they took the money from the pros. He is a good coach in my opinion. He just needs a few good fielders who can hit 350 with power and a half dozen pitchers who can thro strikes in the mid nineties instid the mid seventies.

But part of recruiting is understanding the possibilities and creating back up plans.  Losing a pitcher to the draft is neither unheard of or uncommon.  The coaching staff has to do a much better job of getting another great recruit to sign when these situations occur.

[around4ever 4,139]

Samford also has an excellent coach who is the son of a great high school coach and an Auburn graduate. Unfortunately his sister is an outstanding pitcher for the turds softball team and has thrown several no hitters this year. Pawloski walked into an almost unbearable situation at Auburn and has lost a lot of seniors every year. He has signed several very good pitchers who were subsequently drafted so high they took the money from the pros. He is a good coach in my opinion. He just needs a few good fielders who can hit 350 with power and a half dozen pitchers who can thro strikes in the mid nineties instid the mid seventies.

Kelsey Dunne, UAT Pitcher, is not related to Casey Dunn. 

[AU60 0]

According to CSS the other day, she is the daughter of Sammy Dunn. If that is correct, that would make her his sister.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

In your opinion, how far can Auburn go when they get to Hoover? Though it would be nice, I don't look for them to win it all next week.