Oct. 6, 2016
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AUBURN, Ala. ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" Second-year Auburn baseball head coach Butch Thompson saw some things liked, but he wasn't content with the first practice of the fall on Thursday at Plainsman Park.
"I liked how much talent and skill we have," Thompson said. "The first time you go from all the drill work of the last few weeks and working so hard in the weight room training, we have invested so much in that. Now we have to come out and start connecting dots to put this together as a ball club. With our team defense, we need rhythm and reps. We needed more of that today.
"We need to stay on our word of 'attack'. We are going to make better decisions when we attack everything we do on the field. I told the players to make us force you to tone it down. Don't make us tell you to turn it up."
After opening the fall practice schedule with a full-team session, the Tigers will pivot to the first scrimmage Friday.
Thompson is anxious to see his squad get things started on the mound.
"We want to start building around pitching from the 0-0 count," Thompson said. "We want the first pitch of the fall to be a strike. We are sending out Keegan Thompson. I'm excited to get him back out on the mound and so is our team. Everyone in our program is excited to see him back out there.
Ultimately, Coach Thompson is looking to see how his team reacts to its first game-type situation as a group.
"The real goal is how can we shove the ball into the strike zone and can our pitchers try to end the at-bat on every pitch," Thompson said. "Can our infielders stay engaged, take great prep steps, anticipate, inspect and expect every ball pitched is being put in play? Can we have competitive at-bats?
"Nothing is happening in one day. I just want to see good baseball and good tempo to that baseball. I want to see our players encouraging and communicating. We will take a step every day if we do that. If we stay in sequence and play clean, quick, fast and support everybody ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" that will be a win for me."
Auburn scrimmages at 4 pm Friday, 9:30 am Saturday and 2:30 pm Sunday.