Auburn baseball walks off Alabama State; prepares for Kennesaw State

Questions about the bullpen and cleanup persist at the halfway mark of SEC play

Photo credit: Elaina Eichorn/Auburn Athletics

In a midweek game meant to give Auburn a chance to “get right”, not much went right for the Auburn Tigers. After staking themselves to a 4-1 lead, Auburn allowed four Alabama State runs to score in the top of the 6th on a fielding error by pitcher Jordan Armstrong combined with six walks – the ball didn’t leave the infield until the final out of the inning, a fly ball to right fielder Bobby Pierce. 

But Auburn battled back, getting a key two out, two strike infield single by Blake Rambusch in the 9th to tie the game at 5 and a walkoff single by Nate LaRue in the bottom of the 10th to secure the 6-5 victory. When asked what keyed the comeback for Auburn, Rambusch responded “I’d say that’s just our mindset. We’re going to do anything we need to. We’re going to do just enough to try and get the win and keep fighting for our guys.”

The sixth inning spoiled a great start from Mason Barnett, who went five innings of three hit, one run ball with eight strikeouts and no walks against a SWAC-leading Alabama State squad. “He came out firing on all cylinders. I thought Mason was tremendous. He was making really good pitches and was kind of set.” said Auburn head coach Butch Thompson of the junior righthander. Of the sixth inning’s walks, four came from Jordan Armstrong, who was unable to land many fastballs for strikes – he threw 30 pitches in the outing with only 12 of them being strikes. Freshman Chase Allsup came in to replace him, with two walks of his own in the first three batters he faced to turn over the lead. “We had six walks in the game and they all came in the sixth inning. That was disappointing, those four runs. We chased it all night and barely caught back up to tie the game. When the ball doesn’t leave the infield and a team scores four runs that’s tough.” Said Thompson of the outing. 

“We continue to have inconsistencies when we open up that bullpen, even trying some different people and trying something different to get us going.” Throwing Carson Skipper and Burkhalter two innings each was more than initially planned, so that’s going to affect the innings distribution for Wednesday’s midweek against Atlantic Sun Conference-leader Kennesaw State. “We really had a plan on trying to use them for an inning tonight, but they both extended a little more.” said Thompson. “We’re going to need guys who haven’t really pitched for us to do something for us,” in relief of midweek starter Konner Copeland.

The bullpen struggles in the 6th continue a theme of inconsistent relief appearances from the bullpen when Skipper or Burkhalter are not available, one of the two big questions surrounding this Auburn squad at the halfway mark of SEC play. “We opened up the bullpen there, and even tried some different people to try and find something to get us going. But that was disappointing.” Weekend starter Trace Bright, pitching in game 2 most SEC weekends, has been particularly victimized, with Skipper and Burkhalter throwing in relief of Hayden Mullins in game one and not being available to support Bright. Auburn’s lost the last four weekend game twos, with Bright leaving three of those games with either a lead or a deficit of two or less runs. 

The depth of Joseph Gonzalez’s game three starts the last two weekends – a complete game two run victory of Vanderbilt and an eight inning, two run victory over Mississippi State closed by Burkhalter, provide an opportunity to swap those two pitchers and potentially save exposing the secondary and tertiary options of the bullpen to too many innings. There’s a school of thought in modern college baseball that Game 1 and 3 are where your best pitchers should be, with many SEC opponents choosing to save their best pitchers for potential series-clinching game threes. It’s an interesting dynamic for this coaching staff to navigate.

The other glaring question surrounds the cleanup spot. Excluding two early-season appearances at cleanup by Sonny DiChiara, the 4-hole is batting a collective .244/.371/.318, with only six extra base hits and two home runs on the season. The majority of those plate appearances have gone to three players, all in DH roles: Brooks Carlson, Ryan Dyal, and Cam Hill. 40% of those starts, 17 games, have gone to Carlson, with Dyal picking up nine early in the season and Hill platooning with Carlson for nine starts across the season so far. The two home runs are among the lowest in the SEC from the cleanup spot.

The effect of not having consistent production in the cleanup spot has been felt most prominently by 1B Sonny DiChiara. He leads the SEC in average (.419), on-base percentage (.580), and slugging (.857), but also leads the SEC (and is 3rd in the country) in walks with 37, despite missing four games earlier in the season with a foot injury. The lack of a power threat is why Sonny DiChiara leads the nation in walks per game, with 1.16, and has been intentionally walked eight times. It’s been particularly noticeable in his at-bats, when he’s seen a steady diet of off-speed and breaking pitches, mostly out of the zone. 

Mississippi State did a good enough job at hitting some spots and inducing soft contact, holding Sonny to one hit in nine at bats over the weekend with three strikeouts (although they also walked him eight times, with two of those being intentional). Whether South Carolina’s pitching staff is good enough to copy that scouting report is something we’ll find out this weekend, but there’s teams in the postseason that can execute that gameplan. Auburn needs consistency behind DiChiara for this offense to click on all cylinders. 

Auburn continues the midweek slate with a makeup date against Kennesaw State at 6:00PM in Plainsman Park. Auburn is starting sophomore LHP Connor Kopeland in the contest. Kennesaw State enters the week with a 22-12 overall record and also sits atop its league standings with an 11-4 record in ASUN play. The Owls rank 22nd in the country with a 3.04 team batting average and are led by Josh Hatcher's .424 clip, which ranks fifth in the NCAA. The game is available for streaming on SEC Network+. The radio broadcast with Voice of the Tigers Andy Burcham, alongside Brad Law, can be heard locally on 93.9 FM or online on the Auburn Sports Network.

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