Auburn announces weekend rotation. Butch , player interviews

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auburnwire.usatoday.com

 

Auburn announces weekend rotation for series against Mississippi State

Brian Hauch

2–3 minutes

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Auburn baseball’s 2024 season has been nothing short of tumultuous, with the Tigers struggling to pick up any kind of momentum since the pre-SEC schedule ended in mid-February. That rockiness has caused head coach Butch Thompson to consistently tinker with his weekend rotation, as we’ve Auburn throw out different combinations in almost every SEC series thus far.

This weekend, sophomore Dylan Watts, senior Tanner Bauman, and junior Carson Myers will get the call against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Watts earns the Friday nod after pitching exclusively in relief since his season debut in late February against UAB. The Washington State native has yet to throw more than 2 2/3 innings in a game this year but does own an impressive 19:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 16.2 innings pitched this season. His 5.94 era is high, but the sophomore could have a decent chance to slice it down with a longer outing.

Senior southpaw Tanner Bauman will toe the rubber on Saturday for the Tigers in an interesting move from Thompson. Bauman had a very solid outing against No. 5 Kentucky last Saturday, navigating his way through 4 innings of 1-run ball. Bauman’s second-straight inclusion in the weekend rotation isn’t surprising, but Thompson’s decision to pitch fellow left-hander Carson Myers directly behind him is.

The junior Myers has spent plenty of time in high leverage situations for the Tigers this season. After a mid-season scuttle, Myers has settled in as Auburn’s most reliable pitcher, most notably giving up just 4 runs over his last 12 SEC innings pitched.

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on  X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Brian on Twitter @TheRealBHauch

Edited April 19 by aubiefifty

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al.com

How can Auburn baseball salvage this season?

Updated: Apr. 18, 2024, 10:58 a.m.|Published: Apr. 18, 2024, 10:40 a.m.

5–6 minutes

At some point, there’s only so much Butch Thompson can do.

Standing at his perch in the Auburn dugout with his head down several times in the first 15 games of the SEC play wondering how he can fix this. He’s taken responsibility himself for the dreadful start. He’s tried to find unconventional ways to fix it, with little-to-no positive outcomes.

It’s an Auburn baseball team that at one point this season was ranked in the top 25 and now is fighting for a chance to maybe make the SEC Tournament. So, what does Butch Thompson do from here? It will take a shift in expectations.

Auburn hosted a regional last season in the NCAA Tournament and hoped to be in the upper half of the SEC this season with the return of former ace starter Joseph Gonzalez from injury.

It hasn’t gone to that plan at all. Auburn has lost 13 of its first 15 SEC games. It has the worst conference record of any team in the league. Missouri is the only SEC team to lose more games than Auburn overall, but also has three more SEC wins.

Auburn has played a brutal schedule, the downside of playing in one of the best conferences in America. In its first five SEC series, Vanderbilt has the worst record ranking of any team Auburn has faced. Vanderbilt is ranked No. 13 in the country. That’s the worst SEC team Auburn has played so far.

The current top four ranked teams in the country are Texas A&M, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennesee.

Those are also the last four weekend series Auburn has played.

But Auburn didn’t even give itself a chance and that’s what’s bothered Thompson.

“My expectation is that we would have been more competitive in the first half regardless of who they are,” Thompson said Tuesday after a win over Georgia Tech. “We were a top 25 team until it really got rough three weeks ago. We thought a lot about ourselves. We’ll take our medicine.”

The Georgia Tech win stopped a six-game losing streak. The culprit is pitching.

In SEC play, Auburn has a league-worst 9.07 team ERA. That’s more than a run worse than the next closest team (Ole Miss). That’s 141 total runs allowed in 15 games. Auburn’s pitching staff has also struck out the fewest total batters in the SEC. It has allowed more hits than any team in the SEC — more than 20 more than the next closest team.

It’s a problem no matter who has been pitching.

Thompson said he would play around with the pitching staff after the poor start in SEC play. He’s apologized for how bad it was.

And even the re-tooling didn’t work. In the last 11 games, Auburn has used 11 different starting pitchers. Both Chase Allsup and Gonzalez have made appearances as starters and bullpen arms. Neither was particularly successful.

On Tuesday against Georgia Tech, Auburn got out to an 8-0 first inning lead before the pitchers let Georgia Tech get it as close as 8-7. Auburn won the game 12-8, but didn’t make it easy on itself.

It’s left Thompson with a new acceptance.

“We tried to reshape and it didn’t get the result we wanted, so we are who we are,” Thompson said.

It’s essentially a realization and statement that this problem is not being fixed this season.

Auburn has a huge uphill battle if it plans to play postseason baseball.

Only the top 12 of 14 SEC teams make the SEC Tournament. Right now, Auburn is not one of them.

The schedule does, at least relatively, lighten up going forward. Auburn’s remaining SEC series are the following, with the team’s current rankings, if ranked.

- at Mississippi State (4/19-4/21)

- at LSU (4/26-4/28)

- vs Ole Miss (5/3-5/5)

- at Missouri (5/10-5/12)

- vs No. 18 Alabama (5/16-5/18)

All five of those teams have losing records in the SEC. Auburn, Missouri, Ole Miss and LSU are the only SEC teams with double-digit losses in the league thus far.

Is there a path for Auburn to turn this around and make the SEC Tournament? Sure. It will quite literally have a chance to play the teams it has to pass in the standings in order to make it.

How to start winning these games? Thompson is going to have to make do with a pitching staff that he can’t rely on.

Auburn’s offense is in the top half of the league in SEC games in batting average. It’s also in the top half for fielding percentage in SEC games.

Can the season be salvaged? Auburn will need to win several high-scoring games.

“I wanted more out of that first half,” Thompson said. “We knew we were playing great teams, there’s no doubt about it. That hasn’t changed.”

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com

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[Barkchevious 75]

Thank you for posting these articles and videos, always much appreciated!  Any news about Ike Irish?  I can’t find any info on him, has he been playing?  

[TigerPAC 967]

Not looking good so far tonight.   I don’t understand this team. 

[SaltyTiger 7,816]

7 minutes ago, TigerPAC said:

Not looking good so far tonight.   I don’t understand this team. 

Nope 

 

[arktiger1975 518]

13 minutes ago, TigerPAC said:

Not looking good so far tonight.   I don’t understand this team. 

And Mississippi State isn't  very good either. I was hoping that the schedule turning more favorable would help. This season looks like a lost cause. We will find out if the team has any heart by the end of the weekend.

Edited April 20 by arktiger1975

[TigerPAC 967]

5 minutes ago, arktiger1975 said:

And Mississippi State isn't  very good either. I was hoping that the schedule turning more favorable would help. This season looks like a lost cause. We will find out if the team has any heart by the end of the weekend.

True but shouldn’t need to wait by “end of the weekend”.  Time is NOW 

[arktiger1975 518]

11 minutes ago, TigerPAC said:

True but shouldn’t need to wait by “end of the weekend”.  Time is NOW 

Looks like we don't have any.

[aubiefifty 16,807]

23 hours ago, Barkchevious said:

Thank you for posting these articles and videos, always much appreciated!  Any news about Ike Irish?  I can’t find any info on him, has he been playing?  

the last i heard was a while back and he was tearing it up with the bat. if i see anything i will post it for you no problem......

[aubiefifty 16,807]

if i understand correctly guys butch has some serious walking wounded? including pitchers? i get in a hurry and seldom read most of the articles but i believe that is part of the problem.

23 hours ago, Barkchevious said:

Thank you for posting these articles and videos, always much appreciated!  Any news about Ike Irish?  I can’t find any info on him, has he been playing?  

i found a few things so this is your lucky day!

[aubiefifty 16,807]

auburntigers.com

Ike Irish named to Buster Posey Award Watch List

Auburn University Athletics

2–3 minutes

WICHITA, Kan. – Sophomore catcher Ike Irish has been named to the Buster Posey Award Midseason Watch List, the Greater Wichita Sports Commission announced this week.

  Irish, who was previously named to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List, is one of 63 catchers from across the country, including six from the Southeastern Conference, to earn the recognition.  

  In 34 games and 32 starts this season, the Hudsonville, Michigan native is hitting .344 with nine doubles, a career-high 11 homers and 47 RBI. He leads the team in runs (38), while ranking second in average, hits (45), doubles, homers, RBI and total bases (89). In 14 league games, Irish has upped his average to .357 with four doubles, four homer and 16 RBI, and has caught four of nine would-be base stealers.

  Irish became the fourth fastest player in program history to record his 100th career hit earlier this season, doing so in his 68th game played with a first-inning homer against UConn on Mar. 2. He trails only Scott Pratt (61 games), Todd Faulkner (63 games) and Tim Hudson (66 games) on the list.

  Irish and the Tigers (19-17, 2-13 SEC) start the second half of SEC play at Mississippi State (24-13, 7-8 SEC) tonight in Starkville, Mississippi.

Players Mentioned

 

#18 Ike Irish

C

6' 2"

Sophomore

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auburntigers.com

Ike Irish makes Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List

Auburn University Athletics

~4 minutes

CARY, N.C. – Sophomore catcher Ike Irish has been named to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List, USA Baseball announced Thursday.

  Irish is one of 45 amateur players across the country, including one of five catchers, to be named to the list. He is Auburn's third straight representative on the midseason watch list, joining Sonny DiChiara (2022) and Bryson Ware (2023), and is the eighth Auburn player in head coach Butch Thompson's tenure to earn the distinction.

  Through 28 games this season, Irish leads the team in runs (35), hits (41), doubles (nine), total bases (82) and RBI (45) while ranking second in average (.363) and home runs (10). The Hudsonville, Michigan native ranks second in the Southeastern Conference and fourth in the country in RBI, while his totals in runs, hits, doubles and total bases are good for top 10 in the league.

  Irish became the fourth fastest player in program history to record his 100th career hit earlier this season, doing so in his 68th game played with a first-inning homer against UConn on Mar. 2. He trails only Scott Pratt (61 games), Todd Faulkner (63 games) and Tim Hudson (66 games) on the list.

  Currently on a career-best, 15-game hitting streak, Irish has collected a hit in 25 of 28 games this season and has driven in a run in 24 of 28 contests.

  Irish and the Tigers (17-11, 1-8 SEC) start an eight-game homestand with a three-game series against No. 4 Tennessee (24-5, 5-4 SEC) Friday through Sunday at Plainsman Park.

Players Mentioned

 

#8 Bryson Ware

IF/OF

6' 2"

Senior

 

#18 Ike Irish

C

6' 2"

Sophomore

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[aubiefifty 16,807]

I hope this helps you out mr bark.......no insult intended.

[PowerOfDixieland 3,226]

On 4/19/2024 at 11:04 AM, Barkchevious said:

Any news about Ike Irish?  I can’t find any info on him, has he been playing?  

Irish is playing.  Continues to hit the ball as well as last year.  Last night at MSU he was starting in RF and not behind the plate...not sure if that's Butch trying to give him some "rest" or if he's finally acknowledging that Ike's future won't be at C.  He's a tremendous competitor, wish we had 10-12 more just like him.  In the seventh inning last night he had bases loaded and was sitting on a first pitch fast ball, which he got.  Crushed it foul just missed what would have been a game tying GS.