Auburn readies for road trip to defending national champ

Auburn readies for road trip to defending national champAuburn readies for road trip to defending national champ
Grayson Belanger/Auburn Tigers

AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn (20-20, 2-16 SEC) embarks on its second straight road weekend with a three-game set at defending national champion LSU (26-16, 5-13 SEC) this weekend in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
 

Up Next:

at LSU
Friday-Sunday, Apr. 26-28, 2024 
TV: SEC Network+
Radio: Auburn Sports Network

 
First pitches at Alex Box Stadium are scheduled for Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT, Saturday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
 
"We're going to show a ton of gratitude for the rest of this stretch," head coach Butch Thompson. "We've all invested and worked too hard for this program to not get back to playing competitive baseball. How we act and how we roll, we're going to show a lot of gratitude for what we get to do every day. We'll see how that goes, but our postseason is absolutely now, so let's dig in and fight the rest of the way."
 
The games will be broadcast on the Auburn Sports Network and can be heard locally on Wings 94.3 FM. All three contests will also be streamed on SEC Network+.    
 PROBABLE STARTERS 
Friday – So. RHP Dylan Watts (0-1, 5.66) vs. So, LHP Gage Jump (3-1, 4.22)
 
Saturday – Sr. LHP Tanner Bauman (2-2, 4.84) vs. Jr. RHP Luke Holman (6-3, 2.78)
 
Sunday – Jr. LHP Carson Myers (2-3, 3.72) vs. TBA
 QUICK HITTERS 
Auburn's first six SEC opponents are the top six teams in the league.
 
The Tigers' league opponents have a combined 58-23 conference record, four games clear of Alabama for the best combined opponents' record through six weeks.
 
Auburn's starting rotation of Dylan Watts, Tanner Bauman and Carson Myers turned in a 2.70 ERA - four earned runs in 13.1 IP - at Mississippi State.
 
Myers matched a season high with 6.0 innings pitched in the finale against the Bulldogs, marking his second and the team's fourth quality start of the season. 
 
Bauman has made back-to-back starts and has an ERA of 2.45 during the span.
 
Cooper McMurray paces the team in all three major offensive categories - .350 AVG, 12 HR, 49 RBI.
 
Auburn holds a 79-111 record in the all-time series vs. LSU, including a 31-56 record on the road.
 
The Tigers are coming off back-to-back series wins against LSU for the first time since 2011-12.
 
Auburn outscored LSU 20-8 in the last two games of the series a season ago to hand the top-ranked Tigers their first series loss of the season.
 SCOUTING THE TIGERS 
Defending national champion LSU enters the weekend with a 26-16 overall record and a 5-13 record in league play, coming off a series win at Missouri last weekend.
 
The Tigers are hitting .284 as a team, led by Tommy White, who leads the team with a .341 average and 41 RBI to go along with 15 home runs.
 
On the mound, the Tigers have turned in a 4.51 ERA and rank second in the league with 467 strikeouts in 363.0 innings pitched.