With one conference win under its belt, Auburn (16-8, 1-5 SEC) hopes to find its rhythm on the road at College Station, Texas, in a three-game series against No. 4 Texas A&M (22-3, 3-3 SEC).
“It’s gonna be a good test for us to go to College Station and play a great team,” said pitcher Tanner Bauman. “We’re going to be prepared. We’re going to have fun, and we’re going to come up with some good results.”
Returning to the road after getting swept by No. 8 Vanderbilt a couple weeks ago, the Tigers are using that loss to build confidence and get better prepared as they travel to Blue Bell Park.
“We’ve had the chance to go to Vanderbilt and go to Jacksonville to play really good teams, top-25 teams,” Bauman said. “We’ve learned a lot traveling to those places and getting used to what it takes to not only play them but beat them.”
Bauman identified that some of Auburn’s youngsters struggled with confidence on the mound, but – as a veteran in the bullpen – he reassured them that they have the right tools to be successful in the Southeastern Conference.
“That trip to Nashville was kind of a lot of nervous jitters,” Bauman said. “Guys were doing too much, thinking 'this is the SEC, so I gotta change.' No, you’re at Auburn University for a reason. It’s not about changing just because the competition gets better. It’s about sticking to your approach or sticking to how you pitch.”
The confidence and strength of Auburn’s bullpen will determine the result of this weekend’s series because the Tigers’ lineup has proved it can run with the best in the conference. However, Butch Thompson’s pitching staff has some fine tuning to do before it can compete with a pitching powerhouse like Texas A&M – who has several lethal arms.
“They're gonna have to understand that this is about getting ahead in the counts,” Thompson said. “The more command you can show early, the more you can get somebody to swing or have to deal with your pitch.”
With the same rotation as the Arkansas series, Thompson opted for RHP Conner McBride (3-1) to pitch on Thursday and RHP Chase Allsup (1-1) and RHP Joseph Gonzalez (2-1) to pitch on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Texas A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle is sticking with his usual starting rotation: LHP Ryan Prager (5-0) on Thursday, RHP Tanner Jones (1-1) on Friday and LHP Justin Lamkin (2-0) on Saturday.
Prager and Lamkin are particularly dangerous, with Prager’s .74 WHIP and 49 strikeouts with only four walks and Lamkin’s .82 WHIP and 44 strikeouts with eight walks.
“I just don't think it's anything we haven't seen before,” Thompson said. “This will be one of our most challenging settings to go into, so I'm looking forward to it.”
The series opener will be broadcast on the SEC Network+ on Thursday, March 28, at 6 p.m. CST. Friday’s game will also start at 6 p.m., while Saturday’s game is at 7 p.m. CST on the SEC Network.
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Caitlyn Griffin is a sophomore from Huntsville, Alabama, majoring in journalism. She started with The Plainsman in fall 2022.
Twitter: @caitlyngrif99
