Auburn baseball series preview: State Farm College Baseball Showdown

3 games against the Big 12 are on tap for this weekend

Coach Butch Thompson is ready for his 2022 Auburn Tigers squad to play someone that’s not his own team in a ballpark that’s not their own. 

“We are just fired up,” Thompson said. “We have been preparing for this for a while. When you absolutely get to play in a venue like we’re going to get to play in and against opponents like we’re going to get to compete against, I think it has absolutely helped our preparation to get ready for the season." When asked about his goals for the weekend, Thompson was clear: “It’s going to give us a great opportunity to learn about our team, and I like that we’re playing three different teams, to give us an opportunity to focus on that versus one team for a three-game series. From a simplistic standpoint as a head coach, I just want us to go out and try to out-compete our opponents for three games.” 

For a team that’s played nothing but intersquads (save for two fall matchups, against Clemson and Tuskegee) at this point on the calendar, Thompson is looking forward to a high level of an opponent as a gauge of where his team is. Thompson said, “Playing this competition is really going to allow us to come back and know what we need to work on for three weeks before conference play starts. “

Updating our story from Friday, news broke that Notre Dame transfer LHP Tommy Sheehan is, in fact, available to start and will get the first pitch of Auburn’s season on Friday night against Oklahoma. Sheehan will face off against a potent Oklahoma lineup that’s still trying to find some answers themselves. 

“Oklahoma, you know, we played them last year, so that helps some," Thompson said. "And we do need to review that, need to draw out who they are to our players and we need to put an identification on the hitters that returned that some of our guys competed against.” 

Oklahoma, at least up the middle, will look real familiar to this year’s Auburn tigers, as C Jimmy Crooks, SS Peyton Graham, CF Tanner Tredaway all return from last season’s Oklahoma team that beat Auburn 3-4 in ten innings to open the Round Rock Classic – the trio went 5-9 with 7 walks and 3 runs scored in that game.

Saturday’s starter versus #12 Texas Tech has not yet been announced, but that’s by design, according to Thompson. “Saturday, I think, because of the (need for) long relief and Tommy’s a guy that’s ten months out of a procedure and we know he’s healthy and ready to go, but we’re not sure the pitch count’s going to be as high as some others," he said. "We’re going to wait on that starter.” Thompson specifically mentioned four pitchers as all being options for that Saturday start, depending on the long relief needs of Friday: left-handed pitchers senior Carson Skipper and junior Hayden Mullins, or right-handed pitchers Joseph Gonzalez and sophomore JUCO transfer Jordan Armstrong. And whoever gets the start faces a Texas Tech team that’s big on experience but short on returning starters. Reigning Big 12 Player of the Year, 2B Jace Jung, leads a lineup with a lot of experience – eight players in their third season or more of college baseball – but a lot of guys transitioning to new roles after having been mostly depth or role players their first few seasons in Lubbock. 

With the first two matchups, Thompson feels that the coaching staff has a good feel for what his pitchers and hitters are going to face and has been preparing all week for the matchups. “We think the first two teams are a little more station to station," said Thompson. "You go to Saturday and Texas Tech and boy, you’ve got (Jace) Jung there at 2nd base who might be the best position player in college baseball. The talent and big arms – Oklahoma and Texas Tech are gonna have some big arms and we’re going to have to be ready to hit. We’ve done some stuff off of the machine, a little quicker, trying to get on top of elevated pitches. We began that process yesterday (Monday)”

Sunday’s starter will be RHP Trace Bright, and that’s a strategic choice of Thompson’s. Bright has displayed a vastly improved pickoff move, used to deadly effectiveness in spring scrimmages so far to hold runners and suppress the opposing running game a bit. “And then Kansas State’s the one time, you know, at least from a track record and history standpoint have been a little more bunt, a little more run, get guys in motion and that’s why we think Trace is a great matchup. You know, who, the combination of who’s earned it and then also who is the best matchup.” Expect to see grad transfer C Jake Wyandt behind the plate for this one, as he’s “got the edge defensively” right now. Thompson and staff have worked this spring with incumbent catcher Ryan Dyal occasionally in left field for situations just like this, to keep Dyal’s bat in the lineup while being able to utilize Wyandt’s defense.

You can watch Auburn baseball open their season at the State Farm College Baseball Showdown in Arlington, TX on FloBaseball with 1st pitch against Oklahoma on Friday morning at 11 a.m., #12 Texas Tech on Saturday at 3 p.m, and Kansas State Sunday at 10:30 a.m. (all times Central)