Auburn Baseball vs Presbyterian Weekend Series Preview

The Tigers welcome the Blue Hose to the Plains

It's the last non-conference series of the season for the Tigers (10-4) as Presbyterian (8-7) takes a couple of hours drive down I-85 from South Carolina to Auburn. This will be the second series between the two teams, with Auburn leading the all-time series 3-1.

The Tigers got back to their winning ways Wednesday night with a 6-4 victory over Kennesaw State. The ended their "losing streak" of two games following the loss to South Alabama Tuesday night and dropping the final game of the Lipscomb series.

Auburn's weekend rotation hasn't changed for Friday and Saturday from the first few weeks. Ace Keegan Thompson will be the Friday night starter with his 0.00 ERA through 21 innings pitched. His opponent is Brian Kehner, a lefty with a 5.00 ERA. Casey Mize (0.56 ERA) will take the mound Saturday against right-handed pitcher Tanner Chock and his 7.63 ERA. Davis Daniel (6.75 ERA) will be the Sunday Starter against lefty Hayden Deal (5.40 ERA).

Thompson and Mize could be one of the best duos in the nation. They've combined for 39 strikeouts and only 6 walks so far this season. They've been a big part of why Auburn is leading the nation in shutouts with 5.

	ERA	Opp ERA	BA	OBA	On Base %	Slugging %
Auburn	4.03	5.48	.300	.245	.407	.396
Presbyterian	4.92	3.66	.264	.264	.338	.362

(I'll update this with Kevin's great graphics when/if he does them for this game)

That ERA for Auburn is a result of the fact that the Tigers have issues with some pitching outside of the Friday and Saturday starters (plus Cole Lipscomb). The other stats definitely match up well for the Tigers in this one.

The Blue Hose did take one of three from Alabama in the first series of the season, so they're not to be considered a pushover. They do have a few good hitters and are capable of putting up some runs. Their best chance to do that will likely be Sunday, but as noted before, Auburn's rotation seems to be set up that way: for the Tigers to be in great shape for wins Friday and Saturday and then Sunday be a toss-up.

It's a big series for the Tigers to be ready for SEC play to start next weekend in Auburn against the Gators. This and the midweek games against UAB and Jacksonville State will go a long way towards determining what type of season this can be.

War Eagle!

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