The Auburn baseball team will try to silence its critics in the 2013 season.
Among those critics are the SEC coaches.
In a vote released Tuesday morning, Feb. 12, SEC coaches picked Auburn, which has not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2010, to finish last in the SEC West.
"Gotta play the game," said head coach John Pawlowski. "We don't need people to tell us either how good or how bad we are at this time of year. The game will be determined on the field, and it's a great challenge for us, we know, and we'll go from there."
Pawlowski, now in his fifth season at Auburn, will have to prove people wrong in order to make it back to the tournament this season.
The biggest positive for the Tigers? They return a core group of experienced power hitters.
"I feel good about our bats," Pawlowski said. "Offensively, we return our top four hitters from last year. We have a good influx of a couple young guys and a junior college player in Damek Tomscha at third base. I feel good about the experienced bats that we have. We've got some young guys that I think will find a way to contribute."
Center fielder Ryan Tella leads the group, coming off a 2012 campaign that saw him lead the team in batting average (.360) and hits (85). The San Francisco Giants drafted Tella 11th round of the 2012 MLB Draft, but he decided to return for his junior season.
"We're all an experienced lineup, so we don't have to rely heavily on me to help the team out," Tella said. "(The newcomers) know what's expected of them to do their job, and I know what I need to do for my job."
The pitching rotation will lean heavily on sophomores Daniel Koger, Rocky McCord and Trey Cochran-Gill.
Koger, a left-hander, is by far the most experienced of the trio, starting a team-high 15 games and finishing second on the team in innings pitched with 79 last season. He finished 4-w5 with a 3.19 ERA and held opponents to a .247 batting average.
Koger relied heavily on his fastball last season, but says he added a consistent changeup and curveball to his arsenal during the offseason.
"I'm really hoping to get a lot more wins for my team," Koger said. "I feel short a lot - a lot of no decisions, stuff like that. I want to cut down on the runs. I gave up a good amount of runs."
Pawlowski will have 16 out-of-conference games to open the season and experiment with his lineup and pitching rotation.
In conference play, Auburn has home series with No. 4 Vanderbilt, No. 25 Mississippi and top-ranked Arkansas and hit the road for matchups with No. 3 LSU, No. 24 Texas A&M, No. 16 Mississippi State and No. 15 Florida.
Despite the tough schedule, hopes are high entering the season.
"I don't see any reason why we can't win the (SEC) West," Koger said. "Our hitting's gonna be there; we have outstanding hitting. The defense is going to be a lot better this year. I've watched it all fall and spring. And out pitching is definitely going to be there."
Tella thinks Auburn can compete for the conference title and deeper into the NCAA Tournament.
"(Our goals are to) go to the SEC Tournament, go to a Regional, a Super Regional, and just go as far as we can and just beat teams down until they understand what Auburn's about," Tella said.
Auburn opens the season at home against Maine Friday, Feb. 15 at 3 p.m.
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