AuburnFamilyNews.com: Midweek Round-up: North Alabama

Thursday, May 16, 2019

Midweek Round-up: North Alabama

North Alabama @ #24 Auburn

  • Tuesday: 8 – 7 W/11

Talk about a bullet dodged. Auburn found themselves down 5-0 after just an inning and a half of play to the North Alabama Lions and then was down to their final out needing a run down 7-6 in the 9th. Both times the Auburn Offense answered the call and the Tigers finished the Midweek portion of the schedule with an 8-7 victory. Auburn finishes with an 8-5 midweek mark which is good enough for this year I believe. The story of this evening though was Richard Fitts, who only faced 3 batters Saturday against Georgia before being lifted but answered the bell when Brooks Fuller couldn’t find his rhythm in the 2nd inning. Fitts went on to go 6.1 giving up a run on 4 hits with 8 Ks. Will Holland went 2 for 4 to continue his heat up and Steven Williams matched him at the .500 mark for the evening and put in 3 RBIs for his efforts. The Tigers headed down for Baton Rouge yesterday morning and get set to take on LSU in a pivotal SEC Series at the Tigers look for that signature road series victory to close the season.

Around the League

#2 Vanderbilt

  • vs Middle Tennessee St, TUE: 5-2 W

Not much to see here as Vandy does Vandy things and gets the coasting win. The Dores look to wrap up the Regular Season Title on Friday night against Kentucky if they win tonight.

#4 Mississippi State

  • vs Louisiana Tech, TUE: 7-3 W

Really nice gesture by State against the Bulldogs as tickets were free to the game and they asked fans to donate money to go towards the relief efforts in Ruston following the Tornado that ran through campus, including La Tech’s baseball park. If you haven’t seen the pictures, they are absolutely heartbreaking. Good win for State and now they host the Gamecocks who are desperate for a win.

#14 LSU

  • vs New Orleans, TUE: 7-5 W

Another touch and go game for LSU as the offense was spotty but when they put up numbers, they were crooked for the win. Now LSU prepares to host Auburn for what will be an interesting series to say the least. Who will get the opportune hits…that will be the decider in this one.

#18 Tennessee

  • vs Tennessee Tech, TUE: 7-4 W

Strike up another in-state win for the Vols as they head to the Grove to take on a suddenly reeling Ole Miss team. This truly is a must in for Ole Miss after a bombshell weekend against state. Game 1 is on the SEC Network if you don’t wanna watch the Tigers.

Kentucky

  • vs Michigan, TUE: 7-4 W

There goes a solid win for the Cats and what a week for it to come. Michigan was in the running for an at-large bid earlier this season but has fallen off as the rugged Big 10 schedule (tongue directly in cheek) took its toll but it’s still a name and a good win for Kentucky. Now the Cats prepare to host Vandy…good luck!

Alabama

  • vs Samford, TUE: 4-2 W

Alabama gets good momentum as they head to Athens to take on Georgia and looks to extend their season by at least one game.

South Carolina

  • vs USC-Upstate, TUE: 1-0 W

South Carolina caps off the clean sweep for the midweek for the conference with a 1-0 winner. That’s about all to say for this one, as now the Gamecocks, Tide and Cats get set to do battle for one good 9 innings to get to Hoover.

On Deck (with SEC Schedule and this week’s C&M Top 25 Rankings)

*ALL GAMES ARE THURSDAY – SATURDAY*

  • #2 Vanderbilt @ Kentucky
  • South Carolina @ #3 Mississippi State
  • #4 Arkansas @ #15 Texas A&M
  • Alabama @ #6 Georgia
  • #17 Tennessee @ #23 Ole Miss
  • Florida @ #21 Missouri
  • #24 Auburn @ #22 LSU

A lot of compelling matchups but only 3 top 25 matchups this weekend. Each contest has drama built in to it though so it will be a lot of fun to follow as the games happen around the same time all three days. As for Auburn and LSU, the Louisiana version of the Tigers have had an up and down season so it’s hard to truly know what you are going to get from week to week. LSU looked out classed against Arkansas last weekend but took 2 of 3 from State at the Dude earlier this season. Auburn is mixing up their starters this weekend, giving Jack Owen and Tanner Burns a complete week of rest going into these games and having Elliott Anderson start game 1 tonight against LSU. The Fightin’ Tigers will throw Sophomore righty Eric Walker against Anderson. Walker brings in a 4-4 record with a 5.21 ERA. Friday night Jack Owen will face right hander Landon Marceaux who has a 3-2 mark and a 6.56 ERA. LSU is TBA for Saturday but they will more than likely throw either Zack Hess (3-4, 4.99 ERA) or Ma’Khail Hilliard (0-3, 5.70 ERA) in that game but we shall see. At the plate, LSU is batting .271 as a team and is paced by 4 guys batting over .300. Josh Smith is the toughest out, batting .345 with 7 bombs. He is trailed by Zach Watson (.317), Antoine Duplantis (.314) and Daniel Cabrera (.301 and leads the team in HRs with 12). As far as a prediction this one is a complete toss up to me. Auburn could come out and be the team we’ve been waiting for them to be for a couple of months, or LSU could do the same. Either way it will be fun to see what happens as we get set for Hoover.



from College and Magnolia - All Posts https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/2019/5/16/18627826/midweek-round-up-north-alabama
at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)