For the first weekend of conference play, the No. 18 Auburn Tigers (13-3, 0-0) will travel to Nashville, Tennessee, to take on the No. 9 Vanderbilt Commodores (15-3, 0-0).
“Our baseball team is excited about going to Vanderbilt to start conference play,” Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said. “A great Vanderbilt team, looks like a consensus top-10 national ranked team.”
Vanderbilt is currently riding a 10 game win streak, picking up some quality wins in their unbeaten run. The Commodores have wins over Texas and Houston, two solid Big 12 ball clubs.
The Tigers have lost seven straight at Vanderbilt. The last time Auburn beat the Commodores in Nashville was April 14, 2012. However, when the two met at Plainsman Park last season, the Tigers took two of three. It has been a dead even series in the last 30 seasons, with each team winning 33 of the last 66 contests.
On the bump this weekend will be a familiar starting rotation with one small adjustment. Junior right hander Chase Allsup will remain in his normal Friday slot. Junior lefty Carson Myers will stay in his Saturday role after throwing game two of the Austin Peay series in the absence of redshirt junior Joseph Gonzalez, who will slide into the Sunday start this weekend.
The Tigers starting rotation has not quite been at its best so far this year, with Gonzalez trying to regain comfortability after coming back from injury. The trio of Allsup, Myers and Gonzalez have averaged just over four innings pitched in their 11 combined starts.
Coach Thompson will need extended innings from his starters if Auburn wants to walk off Hawkins Field with wins this weekend.
“We’ll stay where we’re at and will not be changing roles yet,” Thompson said. “We’ll be open to that moving forward, but we believe this is our best path, keeping everybody in the job that they’ve been preparing for and working for.”
Vanderbilt will come at the Tigers with a trio of junior starters, with Carter Holton scheduled to throw Friday, Bryce Cunningham on Saturday and Devin Futrell on Sunday. The three have combined for an undefeated 6-0 record on the season.
“From first pitch on Friday, to Sunday, I think Vanderbilt is going to continue to throw talent at us,” Thompson said. “So that will be the challenge for our offense. Staying consistent, relentless in their at-bats.”
The Auburn lineup has hit the ball at a high rate, but has recently dealt with some illnesses that have sidelined key pieces. Graduate student Bobby Peirce has not appeared for the Tigers in the last three contests, but hopes to be good to go on Friday. Another graduate student, Cooper Weiss, also missed action when the Tigers took on Troy in Huntsville, but appears to be available.
“I think they’re back,” Thompson said regarding Peirce and Weiss. “From a coaches stand point you’re just like, ‘Ok they’re back, but are they 100%? Are they in rhythm?’”
Auburn will hopefully be able to benefit from having their offense back at full strength this weekend. The Tiger lineup has been mashing the ball this year, homering in all 16 of their games. They also rank third in the league in slugging, with an impressive .593 slugging percentage.
Another thing the Tigers have done efficiently this year is advance runners on the base paths. Weiss tops the SEC in stolen bases with 14, and will be looking to run more this weekend. Auburn base runners have been caught stealing just four times in their 38 attempts.
For the Commodore offense, sophomore RJ Austin leads the team. Austin has a team high .361 batting average, and is one of four players on the Vanderbilt squad hitting over .333 this year.
The trip to Nashville will be the first of four straight series against top-10 teams, three of which are in the top five. One, two or even three wins for the Tigers could be instrumental as they go through a gauntlet of a schedule.
First pitches against Vanderbilt are scheduled for 6 p.m. CT on Friday, 2 p.m. CT on Saturday and 1 p.m. CT on Sunday. Coverage for each game can be found on the Auburn Sports Network and SEC Network+.
