Ahead of Auburn baseball's season-opening series against Georgia Southern, The Plainsman posed questions for McClain Baxley, daily managing editor for The George-Anne. Here's how he sees the action playing out this weekend inside Plainsman Park.
What are expectations like for Southern this season?
After a fairly early exit in the Sun Belt tournament in 2018, an experienced Georgia Southern team is embarking on am aggressive season. Nine of 10 starters from a year ago return as well as half the starting pitchers. Former quarterback turned pitcher Seth Shuman had a pretty decent sophomore season in 2018, posting a 4.41 ERA with 95 strikeouts. Shuman was also named preseason All-Sun Belt pitcher.
The Eagles were picked to finish fourth in the Sun Belt East division, so expectations aren't extremely high. Having top 25 ranked Coastal Carolina in the division makes things difficult, but having season opening series against Auburn, West Virginia and Georgia will certainly be beneficial. I think finishing in the Sun Belt Championship would be exceeding expectations in 2019.
Who are the key contributors at the plate Tiger fans should know?
The three biggest names are junior Mason McWhorter, redshirt-senior Tyler Martin and sophomore Jason Swan. McWhorter had the second highest BA on the team with .283 and hit 11 home runs. He has been a stud since his freshman year and can play all over the field on defense. McWhorter also was walked 24 last season. Martin's story is interesting. He only hit .233, but was injured for much of the season.
The year prior, Martin hit .291 with 22 of his 55 hits going for extra base hits. Swan is the guy that led off for the second half of the 2018 season. He hit .267 and led the team with 50 hits. As a freshman, that was pretty good. In 2018, the games seemed to go however Swan went. If he was on, things went well for the Eagles.
What's the program history at Georgia Southern like?
It's still safe to say that baseball is the third most popular sport at GS. But the Eagles do have, historically, the best program in Sun Belt (except for Coastal Carolina). GS has been to 14 tournaments and two college World Series, the most recent trip to 1990. The Eagles have yet to win the Sun Belt however, after joining back in 2015.
Head coach Rodney Hennon has been head coach of the Eagles since 2000 and has a .593 winning percentage and has led the Eagles to six NCAA regionals.
Series prediction?
GS is 0-2 all-time against Auburn, but I think that becomes 1-4 after this weekend. I think Shuman will come out and have a great first game Friday night to get them on the right track and then the Tigers have two confidence-killing games. This all being if the rain holds off.
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Nathan King, senior in journalism with a minor in business, is The Plainsman's sports editor.
