Keegan Thompson to start for Auburn in SEC Baseball Tournament

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May 23, 2017

By Will Sahlie
AuburnTigers.com

AUBURN, Ala. - After throwing six no-hit innings Thursday against Ole Miss, Auburn junior right-hander Keegan Thompson will get another shot at the Rebels Tuesday in the opening round of the SEC Tournament.

"As soon as we had the weather delay on Thursday night with Keegan throwing six innings, and had yet to give up a hit, we're trying to find a positive of that because it was still a close ballgame," Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. "From the time he came off the field and as soon as we got in excess of an hour, I said, 'You're not going back out.' And he said, 'Well, can I pitch Tuesday?' A coach loves that out of a player, to be looking ahead. If you're not going to let me do this, then I'll do that.

"To my knowledge, Keegan has not had an opportunity to pitch in Hoover at the SEC Tournament with an Auburn uniform on. I think he has earned that right."

Keegan Thompson sat out one weekend during the regular season to rest, a decision both Thompsons ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" coach and player ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" made with the postseason in mind.

"I think we have done such a solid job with our pitchers and pitching when they're ready and when they haven't been to hold them," Auburn's second-year coach said. "All those decisions have been made all year for now, for this postseason. He wants that opportunity and wants the baseball."

Butch Thompson said his ace will likely have a 75-80 pitch count limit as Keegan goes on short rest.

After Keegan Thompson's day is complete, Butch Thompson said he will look to two key pitchers out of the bullpen to try and get past the Rebels.

"I think of the next two pitchers going into this game vs. Ole Miss, I'm thinking Casey Mize and Cole Lipscomb are the two guys," Thompson said. "There aren't going to be many trade secrets left when you just played a three-game series against somebody."

Mize, who missed the Ole Miss series with a recurrence of arm fatigue, will be available on Tuesday. Butch Thompson said that he will look to get Mize into the game, depending on the scenario.

"I think it's very important for Casey to get back out on the mound," Butch Thompson said. "Being a starter all year, I'm not sure I'd bring him in in the middle of an inning. We'd try to give him a clean inning. You don't want to play with the game, we're trying everything we can to have success. I'm wanting, hopefully that it works out, we can find the right scenario to get Casey in the ballgame Tuesday after Keegan."

No. 8 seed Auburn and No. 9 seed Ole Miss will play game three of the SEC Tournament with first pitch scheduled for 4:30 p.m., but likely to start later, in Hoover on the SEC Network.