Despite the 2011 Auburn baseball team only hitting 39 home runs on the season, which was 47 fewer than the national leader, baseballs are guaranteed to be soaring out of Plainsman Park Friday night.
The baseball program is hosting its eighth annual Celebrity Home Run Derby, which is partnered with the Hudson Family Foundation and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Lee County, at 7 p.m.
"My hope is that the Auburn family will come out to watch some of the great players that have come through Auburn in the recent years hit some home runs and raise some money," said coach John Pawlowski.
Admission is a minimum $2 donation at the gate.
"Our goal is to make this into a premiere fundraising event for both the Auburn baseball team and the Hudson Family Foundation," said Atlanta Braves pitcher Tim Hudson. "Having moved back into the Auburn area and raising a family here, we want to give back to the community as much as we can.
"This is a win-win for our foundation and for the Auburn baseball program."
The participants will include some Auburn greats from the last decade.
Hudson, a former Tiger and national player of the year, will be one of the two Atlanta Braves competing, along with former Auburn catcher David Ross. Both Hudson and Ross played for Auburn in 1997 when the Tigers went to the College World Series.
Others involved in the event include manager of the Gulf Coast League Braves and former Auburn letterman and Mississippi Brave Jonathan Schuerholtz, former Atlanta Brave Wes Helms and recent Auburn players Hunter Morris and Brian Fletcher.
Last year's individual home run derby winner Kevin Patterson and retired seven-year MLB veteran and current Tigers undergraduate assistant coach Gabe Gross will also play.
The format of the derby will remain the same as last year, with two teams consisting of four sluggers each competing in four innings. Each team will have one hitter per inning.
Once everyone has hit, the participant with the most home runs will be named the individual champion, and the team with the most home runs will be the overall champion.
Last year, then-senior Patterson hit an individual-high 11 homeruns that led the Blue Team to a 36-15 victory over the Orange Team.
More than $2,000 were given in donations from the crowd, alumni home run hitters and sponsors.
This year's sponsors are the Auburn/Opelika Tourism Bureau, Cooks Pest Control, King Family and Cosmetic Dentistry, Marco's Pizza and Tiger Rags, which all made a minimum $500 donation.
There will be raffle tickets sold for $5 before and throughout the event by Diamond Dolls.
Scott Duval, director of baseball operations, said there will be 12-14 prizes, including two foursomes of golf, four tickets to the Hudson Family Foundation Benefit Concert the weekend of the Samford football game and a Braves ticket package.
Duval also said there will be raffle winners assigned to each participant in the competition to receive an autographed item from that competitior.
"Partnering with Tim and Kim and the Hudson Family Foundation takes our event to a new level," Pawlowski said. "At the end of the day, we want to blow our past efforts out of the water, and we certainly have an all-star cast participating in the home run derby."
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
