Auburn travels to College Station to Begin Eight-Game Road Trip

Daniel Robert (Photo: Auburn Athletics/Dakota Sumpter)

Auburn Tigers Baseball (23-8, 7-2 SEC) begins their eight-game, four college campus tour this evening in College Station, Texas against the Texas A&M Aggies (20-10, 3-6 SEC), the longest of the season. Auburn is fresh off of an offensive-driven battle with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets that resulted in an 11-8 loss on Tuesday to wrap up a four game home-stand. Luke Jarvis, Bowen McGuffin, and Mike Rojas each had a double in the game, with Rojas earning his first three RBI by clearing the bases on a 3rd inning double. Jonah Todd and Daniel Robert each picked up two hits. Daniel Sprinkle was given the loss, despite tossing his longest outing of the season. In 3.1 innings, Sprinkle allowed three hits, struck out five, and allowed two earned runs on a home run. Calvin Coker had the longest outing, pitching 3.2 innings. Auburn took two of three from South Carolina last weekend, which was the seventh series win of the season, and the first over the Gamecocks at home since 1996. Highlights include Casey Mize throwing a complete game on Friday in place of Keegan Thompson, and freshman Conor Davis hitting a three-run walk-off home run over the left field wall on Sunday. Texas A&M enters the series winners of two-straight games going back to Saturday. In Tuesday’s win over Dallas Baptist, Nick Choruby went 2-for-4 at the plate with three RBI. The Aggies also took two of three from LSU on the road over the weekend. LSU held a 3-0 lead heading into the 9th inning on Saturday and was one out away from shutting out the Aggies. With two on, catcher Hunter Coleman scored Joel Davis on a single up the middle to cut the Tiger lead to 2 runs. The next at-bat would see Walker Pennington grab a bat in a pinch-hitting role, and he would clear the bases by knocking a three-run shot over left field wall, giving Texas A&M the 4-3 lead. Mitchell Kilkenny tossed a perfect bottom of the 9th inning, earning the save. Starter Corbin Martin earned the win by pitching eight innings, allowing three earned runs and issuing two walks and striking out five. The series win at LSU was the first in SEC play for Texas A&M, the Aggies previously lost two of three to Kentucky and Vanderbilt respectively. PITCHING AUBURN (3.57 ERA) Good news, Auburn fans. Coach Butch Thompson announced on Thursday prior to the team’s departure to College Station, that ace Keegan Thompson would return to the rotation after missing his usual Friday start last weekend against South Carolina. The interesting news is that he will pitch on Saturday, rather than Friday. Midseason All-American (d1baseball.com) Casey Mize will start on Friday for the second consecutive week. His last start was something to write home about, going the distance while striking out 12 and allowing four runs on ten hits. The sophomore currently leads the SEC in strikeouts with 63. Thompson will return to the mound on Saturday, and Davis Daniel will get the nod on Sunday. Through three SEC series, the opposition is hitting .229 against Auburn pitching, which leads the conference. TEXAS A&M (3.97 ERA) The Aggies will showcase a rotation that features two preseason All-Americans. Friday’s starter Brigham Hill was named first team by NCBWA, and third team by Collegiate Baseball. Hill has lost only four games in his three years as an Aggie and has struck out 174 total batters. This season, he sports a 2.60 ERA and a 5-2 record. Last Thursday at LSU, the junior allowed three hits and struck out seven in A&M’s 4-0 win. Corbin Martin, who pitched in Texas A&M’s series-clinching win over LSU on Saturday, will start in Saturday’s game. Martin was named a second team All-American by D1Baseball.com and Baseball America after a 2016 season that saw him strike out 33 batters over 26.1 innings. The junior has already reached career-highs in strikeouts and innings pitched this season, he will also reach another milestone on Saturday, when he starts his fourth game of the season. Finally, Stephen Kolek will make his eighth start of the season on Sunday. Kolek allowed three earned runs in his last outing, a loss at LSU. His best outing of the season came on March 4 against TCU at Minute Maid Park in Houston, where he struck out six Horned Frogs over four innings, not earning a decision. BATTING AUBURN (.284 AVG) Auburn enters the game with two batters hitting over .300 on the season. Daniel Robert and Jonah Todd have produced the most electricity over the last five games, with Robert plating six and Todd going 7-for-19 with two doubles. Not only has Todd performed well over the last five games, he has also found success in the SEC portion of the schedule. Currently, he is hitting .406 (13 of 32), with six doubles and seven runs scored. Will Holland and Luke Jarvis lead the team with 4 RBI in three conference series played. TEXAS A&M (.291 AVG) The Aggies feature slightly more power than Auburn, as they lead the Tigers in home runs 23-9. However, no one player stands out as being the top power threat. The highest team total belongs to Logan Foster, who has four. Five Aggies currently bat over .300, with Braden Shewmake leading the way with a .364 average, three home runs, 35 RBI, 12 doubles, and three triples. Shewmake leads the team by far in RBI, next up is Joel Davis with 22. #7 Auburn travels to Texas A&M to begin an eight-game road trip beginning Friday. Friday- 6:30 PM Saturday- 3 PM Sunday- 1 PM