BY DANIEL LOCKE
FOR THE OBSERVER
AUBURN —
The Auburn Tigers baseball team has had an interesting season to say the least. After making it to the College World Series last season and losing a lot of talent to the MLB Draft, it has been a transitional year for the Tigers, particularly in the pitching staff. A mix of new and old faces on the field has yielded varying results. Sometimes it looks like Auburn is figuring things out. Other times it looks like the Tigers are fish out of water.
Auburn’s season got off to a normal start. The Tigers won most of their games and looked solid doing it. In March, the Tigers hosted the Southeastern Louisiana Lions, one of the teams they hosted in their regional during last season’s NCAA Tournament, and dropped two out of three games. This is when Auburn started to receive some doubts about the type of team they are.
The Tigers have been in a seesaw pattern since then. After the Southeastern Louisiana series, they got swept by the Arkansas Razorbacks. The following weekend they hosted the Georgia Bulldogs and won the first two games convincingly before taking one of the worst losses in recent program history in the third game.
Auburn traveled down to Gainesville the next weekend for a series with the No. 2 Florida Gators. After a dominant 10-1 victory in the first game, the Tigers got outscored 29-13 through the next two games, dropping both.
Next up for the Tigers was the Texas A&M Aggies on a weekend that was main-evented by the unveiling of a statue to honor one of the program’s all-time greats, Frank Thomas. Unceremoniously, Auburn dropped the first game. Inclement weather created a doubleheader in which the Tigers took the first game 10-9 in a contest that came right down to the wire. It ended up not mattering as the Aggies dominated Auburn in the series finale.
The Iron Bowl of baseball followed. Auburn avoided what was nearly a complete collapse by the pitching staff in the ninth inning to take the series’ first game. Alabama evened things up in a close game in the second contest. Once again, the Tigers got blown out in the rubber match.
Every roller coaster has unexpected elements that make the experience that much more thrilling, and the Tigers have received the memo. Auburn hosted the Mississippi State Bulldogs last weekend and the Tigers picked up a 2-1 victory to open the series. The second game was a complete disaster up until the bottom of the ninth inning. The Bulldogs held an 11-3 lead and things looked hopeless. The Tigers decided to wake up, however, and went on a rally that ended up falling just short, losing the game 11-10. The final game had a similar start to the second: The Bulldogs got off to a fast start and the Tigers were playing catchup the entire time. The comeback was successful this time as Auburn erased a 9-3 deficit to pick up a 12-11 victory and its first series win since Georgia.
With all that being said, there is no way to know what to expect from Auburn as the SEC Tournament approaches on May 24 through 29. As bleak as things have looked for the team at times, the Tigers have no shortage of fight in them and are capable of going on runs.