AUBURN, Ala. – Accustomed to reaching millions of viewers on ESPN and SEC Network, college baseball broadcasters Kyle Peterson and Chris Burke spoke Saturday to more than 500 attendees at the Auburn Diamond Club's 19th preseason banquet at Auburn Arena.
The banquet, like Auburn baseball's season ticket packages, sold out, another indicator of baseball fever on the Plains following last season's trip to the College World Series.
Burke, the SEC's Player of the Year in 2001 at Tennessee, traced the Tigers' resurgence to the 2018 super regional in Gainesville, when Auburn lost game three to Florida 3-2 in 11 innings.
"It's been a pretty remarkable turnaround," Burke said. "Auburn had a long dry spell there for a while. 2018 really put the program on the map, an incredible run and a super regional game that the whole country was glued into, our highest rated super regional, so everybody was watching.
"Playing the defending national champs, and essentially played them off their feet in their own building."
Burke recalled broadcasting an Auburn game last season in late April in Nashville, when the Tigers displayed perseverance after getting swept by Vanderbilt.
"To me, those are the moments where you find the soul of a program," he said.
Burke credited fifth-year head coach Butch Thompson for creating a championship culture.
"I'm a big believer that programs take on the fabric of their head coach," Burke said. "I would say that Auburn baseball has established itself in a league that has zero forgiveness, in a division of the league that is almost impossible to keep your head above water, because the culture that he's built, and the men he's surrounded himself with. Because of that, Auburn is a now a top 10 program that people expect to go to the College World Series every year.
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"I think last year was a perfect picture of how culture can win when really it didn't make any sense when you think about all the injuries they sustained. I think there's tremendous respect for the program around the country, and I think it has a lot to do with leadership."
Peterson, a standout pitcher at Stanford, competed against Auburn in the 1997 College World Series in Omaha, his hometown. Like Burke, Peterson attributes Auburn's success to Thompson, his assistant coaches, and the student-athletes who choose to play for them.
"When he lines his staff up, it's one that guys are going to run through walls for," Peterson said. "When you have that to start, and then you to start to add the things that have happened in the last few years.
"It's one thing to knock on the door, it's another thing to get to Omaha. It is program-changing when teams get there and they haven't been there in a long time. I also think you're looked at differently across the country when it happens.
"It was surprising the way it came about last year for those of us who followed it during the course of the year because there were so many obstacles. At the same time, there's a ton of respect that goes along with a team that gets there that way, and obviously returns everything that they have this year.
"Nationally, it's incredibly well-respected. He's incredibly well-respected, as are all of his coaches and the staff, and the type of program they've put together."
The former Major League Baseball first-rounders concluded the banquet by offering perspectives to Auburn's 2020 team.
"Treasure the opportunity to play where it means so much," Burke said. "I love college baseball. I love the urgency of the coaches. I love the meaningfulness of each game. How it matters in a team making the tournament, hosting a regional, hosting a super regional, being a national seed. Every single game matters."
Burke contrasted the significance of each SEC game with minor league baseball's 140-game season, in which individual development far outweighs team success.
"Try to soak it in," he said. "You're in a special time of your life, you're playing for your program where it really matters. Each game really matters. Try to enjoy that, and understand that whatever happens next will come. Each one of these is very special. Try to really be where your feet are because it'll be gone like that."
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Peterson, whose professional career was shortened by injuries, recalled being grateful for the relationships he'd made in baseball, a revelation he fully grasped on the day he was released.
"It was at that moment where I had a chance to think about how cool the game had been to me," said Peterson, who told the Tigers the friendships and camaraderie created on road trips and in clubhouses are more memorable to him two decades later than even the games.
"The three hours that the light are on, it's awesome, but the life experiences - I would love to be back in college for a week, just to be a part of that, because you miss that part."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer