aaronl22 0 Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 After the first three weekend series of SEC play our Tigers sit tied a top the SEC West standings with an overall record of 17-11 and 6-3 in conference play having taken 2 out of 3 from Ole Miss on the road, LSU and Mississippi State at home, all who were ranked when we played them. While our overall record isn't great, we are seeing the benefits of playing a tough out of conference schedule on the weekends which include losses to Missouri and Arizona. This is not the greatest team defensively as you can point to the errors made by Simpson at 2nd, Alvord at 3rd, and Glevenyak at SS, but where we make up for it is on the mound. For the first time since I can remember the rotation of Varnadore, Kendall, and Koger all have strikeout plus mentalities and can pitch their way out of a jam when the defense puts them in a hole. As far as the bullpen goes Slade Smith is our number one guy followed by Ortman, Bryant, and newly emerging Jay Wade, but don't forget about the crafty lefty Cory Luckie. He will still bean important piece of the puzzle the further we dive into SEC playand Jon Luke Jacobs during the week games has to be just as good as the weekend guys, if you don't believe so ask last years team. As far as the lineup goes we are just a tad bit inconsistent but I feel like after the last two games against State it is coming around. This weekend series against Alabama should be a feast for our guys but hopefully we don't get to far ahead of ourselves and just play one game at a time. Jay Gonzalez has been a terrific lead off man and he must continue that toset the tone. Can't use your speed sitting in the dugout. Simpson in the 2 hole is struggling a little lately but the combination of Tella, Cooper, and Wacker have been huge especially considering we never saw them last year. I like the DH combo of Bryant and Ortman but we could use a little more production out that spot. Alvord's bat is starting to heat up which will be needed to push across runs in the bottom of the order. The catching combo of Austin and Bowen has been a tad disappointing but not many catchers hit like Jenkins and Caldwell the last couple years or like Zunino out of Florida and then Glevenyak has the potential to come up with timely hits as well. We can debate strategies of small ball all day but Coach P likes to bunt and there are times when it is necessary but there are also times when 4 consecutive doubles looks good too like we saw Saturday. This weekend's series against Alabama will be vital as this is a terrible team right now who we have to beat in order to keep the momentum rolling and march on toward Hoover and beyond. We already own the tiebreaker over 3 SEC West teams with only Arkansas left at the end of the year after the trip to Tuscaloosa. Could be a big year for Auburn with the starting pitching we have but there are areas in which we can improve on and sweep weekend series instead of just taking 2 out of 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustache eagle 2,406 Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 i am really happy with the 3 sec series wins against west teams. would love for us to take the series this weekend (a sweep would be outstanding) ... we could really position ourselves well for hoover this weekend. that is crazy to say, not even half way through sec play. if i realized preseason that we had 4 straight west oponents, i would have been nervous. you baseball knowledgable people - of the following baseball concerns - starting pitching, relief/closing pitching, batting, timely batting and fielding - wouldn't you think that fielding/errors would be the thing that could be most correctable during the run of the season? bottom line - EVERYTHING this team is doing this year is better than last year. heck, without looking, i think our errors are even down a little from last year - and that is saying something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AuburnTigers1 0 Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 i am really happy with the 3 sec series wins against west teams. would love for us to take the series this weekend (a sweep would be outstanding) ... we could really position ourselves well for hoover this weekend. that is crazy to say, not even half way through sec play. if i realized preseason that we had 4 straight west oponents, i would have been nervous. you baseball knowledgable people - of the following baseball concerns - starting pitching, relief/closing pitching, batting, timely batting and fielding - wouldn't you think that fielding/errors would be the thing that could be most correctable during the run of the season? bottom line - EVERYTHING this team is doing this year is better than last year. heck, without looking, i think our errors are even down a little from last year - and that is saying something. Without a doubt the errors can be corrected the easiest. We don't need to have guys make spectacular plays. We just need to make the routine plays and get outs. The timely hitting etc. will come. The pitching overall has been good. We just have to make plays behind our pitchers and stop the big inning. Remember game 2 against LSU 2 outs nobody on Auburn leads 1-0. Glevenyak has a routine ground ball hit to him. He makes the play on the ball and throws a change up that dies before it gets to 1b. Runner is safe. 2 batters later it's 2-1 LSU. We ended up winning the game, but that could have come back to bite us. Anyway, I think it's obvious that this team is MUCH improved from last year. The pitching to me has been the most pleasant surprise. Need to sweep Bammer this weekend and we'll be sitting pretty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SumterAubie 3,031 Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 I'm nervous about the bamr series. WE should win at least 2 of 3. But i've seen more than one Auburn team choke when playing an inferior bamr team. But the next 3 series are against the bottom dwellers of both divisions- at bamr, at Vandy, & SC at home. Auburn has a golden opportunity to get a lead on the field in the west. lsu plays at uf, bamr, then at uk over the next 3 weekends. Ark has uga and ky at home. then om on the road. ole miss is at uga, at ky and has ark at home. Another tough series of opponents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wareagle13 88 Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 I'm nervous about the bamr series. WE should win at least 2 of 3. But i've seen more than one Auburn team choke when playing an inferior bamr team. But the next 3 series are against the bottom dwellers of both divisions- at bamr, at Vandy, & SC at home. Auburn has a golden opportunity to get a lead on the field in the west. lsu plays at uf, bamr, then at uk over the next 3 weekends. Ark has uga and ky at home. then om on the road. ole miss is at uga, at ky and has ark at home. Another tough series of opponents. I'm honestly expecting us to go 7-2 over the next three series, Vanderbilt and SC are both good ball clubs, heck SC is the reigning back to back national champions. But with that said they are both slumping this year, i could see us losing once to bammer, it being a rivalry and all, and sweeping one of vandy and sc and taking the series in the other. It'll be tough traveling but I think we have the upper classmen leadership to keep our freshmen level headed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AuburnBasketball 0 Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 Im real nervous about Bama this weekend I would be very happy coming out with 2 wins this weekend. I really don't see us sweeping USCe but I could see us doing it against Vandy we just have to keep the momentum rolling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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