Auburn draws Ole Miss in First Round of SEC Tournament

Josh Anthony (Photo: Auburn Athletics/Wade Rackley)

The regular season came to a close over the weekend, with Auburn taking two of three from Ole Miss to finish the season at 16-14 in SEC play, 34-22 overall. The record was a vast improvement from last season, where the Tigers finished with just eight wins in the conference in Coach Butch Thompson’s first season. The 2017 season was the first full season for Thompson after he was hired on October 22, 2015, right after the completion of fall practice. Since then, Thompson has had time to install his brand of baseball into the program, as well as bring in talented junior college players, who have contributed in big ways to the success of the 2017 season. With success, comes reward. Auburn will head back to Hoover for the first time since 2015 to compete in the SEC Tournament as the 8-seed, taking on 9-seed Ole Miss for the fourth time in six days. Auburn took two of three from the Rebels over the weekend to close out the regular season at Plainsman Park. Both Auburn wins in the series were a mixture of solid pitching, and run support. Keegan Thompson had a no-hit bid going through six complete innings before an hour-and-fifteen-minute rain delay cut his outing short. He ended the night with eight strikeouts and two walks as Auburn snapped a seven-game losing skid, 4-1 over Ole Miss. Davis Daniel’s mound performance nearly matched Thompson’s the night before, as he also struck out eight batters in 6.1 innings in Auburn’s 9-1 series-clinching win over Ole Miss. Auburn faces Ole Miss on Tuesday at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium at 4:30 P.M. The winner faces SEC Co-champion Florida on Wednesday at the same time. Auburn swept Florida to open the SEC schedule March 17-19 at Plainsman Park. Since then, Florida has lost only six conference games, finishing the season at 21-9.