Auburn faces a stiff non-conference test with Lipscomb

Auburn unveils a new-look rotation this weekend against the Lipscomb Bisons.

Auburn baseball has opened the season 6-1-1, winning its first two series matchups against Indiana and USC, but head coach Butch Thompson isn't quite ready to declare his team ready for conference play. "You can't take anything for granted, but I think the more exposure, the more experience we get guys, the better off we may be down the road." 

Thompson was explaining his decision to go with a different starting rotation than we've seen yet this season, with the trio of Tanner Bauman (Friday), Christian Herberholz (Saturday) and Zach Crotchfelt (Sunday) being named as starters for the series. 

"I think it's less to do with our opponent and more with 'two more weekends and next weekend is the final one before SEC play starts'. Bauman's been a pretty consistent performer for us, and we want to see how he would act in a start because, man, there's a difference."

Bauman is excited for his first career start at Auburn, and plans to lean on the defense for success. "Yeah, I'm ready to go. Thankfully, I've been getting some starts (in spring), so it's going to be something I've done before. It's a pretty comfortable feeling. I'm ready to go set a good tempo and hopefully get the game off to a good start. [...] Get some quick outs, get the defense working. I know those guys are going to work behind me, I know they're going to make plays, and they're going to dominate the routine play." 

Thompson elaborated on the small steps that Bauman can take to grow into a starting role, "It's been enough strikes. I think there's been one moment in his three or so innings that he's thrown a couple of times where it's like 'man, there's just a couple of sequences where it's like you got off track' but he's been able to get back on (track). The other thing I like, it just presents a tough at-bat. I just don't think people are squaring him up over and over, so I think his arm slot presents a little bit of a challenge and the ability to get to a breaking ball, really able to get to his change up, and his fastball has shown survivability. That's the key - the commonality of Freshman All-Americans and everybody's like 'is it the wipeout breaking pitch?' It's the fastball survivability. Bauman has shown us fastball survivability because of that lower left-handed slot." 

Scheduled to follow Bauman in the "piggyback" role is Chase Allsup, who started the first Friday nights and is improving with each outing. "We thought the second start was some growth from the first start. [...] We've kept him on the same day, and they're both building pitch count."   

Saturday's starter is Southern Union transfer Christian Herberholz, who started last Saturday in place of Joseph Gonzalez, still out with the shoulder soreness that slowed him in spring (he has resumed throwing and the goal is for him to have a "tune-up outing" next weekend before conference play begins in two weeks.)

Said Thompson of Herberholz getting a second straight start, "We think the ball is coming out of his hands better than we anticipated or saw in the fall. So, if he can keep getting more comfortable, get to his stuff - and we think he can change speeds and present some offspeed pitches maybe a little bit ahead of (how) some of our other guys have been able to execute some sequences - I'm excited about that." 

On Sunday comes the first start for true freshman Zach Crotchfelt. A Top 200 recruit out of New Jersey, the lefty has appeared in relief the past two Sundays and now gets a chance to work from a clean mound for the first time in his Auburn career. 

Starting matchups

Friday: JR LHP Tanner Bauman (1-0, 4.26) vs. JR LHP Michael Dunkelberger (0-1, 7.45) Saturday: R-JR RHP Christian Herberholz (0-0, 8.44) vs. 5Y RHP Ethan Smith (0-0, Sunday: FR LHP Zach Crotchfelt (0-0, 7.36) vs. GR RHP Braydon Tucker (0-0, 4.09)

It's a very experienced pitching staff for Lipscomb, and probably the best test the Tigers will face from the mound in the non-conference slate. Dunkelberger was a 2nd team All-Conference performer for the Bisons last season, and opened the season with 4.1 innings of two hit, two-run ball vs Notre Dame with six strikeouts. Smith's a two-time transfer, starting his career at Vanderbilt before transferring to Tennessee for 2021 and now Lipscomb. Tucker's a transfer from Indiana that missed 2022 due to injury, but worked in relief for the Hoosiers and showed exceptional control out of the bullpen in high-leverage situations.

Expect lower-scoring games than we've seen from Auburn so far this season - if Auburn can get to six runs in any game, I like their chances to win. 

Lipscomb's offense

Lipscomb has won two series on the year, against Notre Dame to open the season and last weekend against UIC. The key in both those series victories? The big inning. The Bisons have put up a 3-spot on six separate occasions, going 4-2 in those games. They have 14 home runs on the season, with five players having multiple on the season and three players having multiple in a single game.  

Injury concerns

As previously mentioned, ace Joseph Gonzalez is out for this weekend as he rehabs the scapula soreness that caused him to miss last weekend's scheduled Saturday start. 

Left fielder Bobby Peirce is questionable for this weekend with a mild hamstring strain. Thompson said they lifted him from Sunday's finale against USC for precautionary reasons - "If that was June, would he stay in the game? Probably" - and won't know his status until they see how he performs in Thursday's practice and then how he feels on Friday morning. If he's unavailable, look for Josh Hall to reprise his Wednesday night role in left field.   

Lineup and defensive rotations  

Auburn's mostly set the lineup around the diamond, with Cooper McMurray settling into the majority of the playtime at 1st base. Thompson admitted being happy for McMurray that he got his second home run of the season (on Wednesday night) but acknowledged that he needs to see McMurray "put the bat on the ball a little bit more". As we've previously discussed, true freshman Ike Irish is a candidate to see some time at 1st base just to free up the DH spot for a less defensively-versatility hitter who happens to be hot, but it's not expected this weekend. 

The only position without a true starter seems to be 2nd base, where the staff is happy having both left and right-handed options in Brody Moss and Caden Green. "We think Green might give us a touch more range and just a headsy ball player, winner, (but) Moss has held up good. [...] I think it could be as simple as 'they've got a right handed starter or a left-handed starter, what are the splits?' so I think they're both in the conversation." 

C: Nate LaRue

1B: Cooper McMurray

2B: Caden Green or Brody Moss

3B: Bryson Ware

SS: Cole Foster

LF: Bobby Peirce or Josh Hall

CF: Kason Howell

RF: Justin Kirby

DH: Ike Irish

Broadcast and game times 

Two of the three games this weekend are televised - Saturday's game two, scheduled for 4PM, overlaps with the end of Men's Basketball at home and is only available via audio. Friday's game one starts at 6PM, with Saturday at 4PM and Sunday at 1PM, and games one and three will be available for streaming on SEC Network+. The radio broadcast, with Voice of the Tigers Andy Burcham and Brad Law, will be available locally on 95.9 FM and digitally at AuburnTigers.com. 

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