BY DANIEL LOCKE

FOR THE OBSERVER

AUBURN —

Baseball season has been underway for a few weeks now, and the Auburn High School Tigers varsity baseball team has 14 games under their belt now, holding a 8 -6 record. 

The Tigers were crowned state champions in 2021 and made the Final Four last year. Head coach Matt Cimo said he is confident that this team can make a run as well, despite its early struggles.

“I think our immaturity on the mound right now [is a team weakness],” Cimo pointed out. “Our team is trying to find its identity right now. We’ve got four weeks to find everyone’s role and what they are going to do.”

Despite the early struggles, Auburn has some players who are already having big seasons. Junior Michael Daniel is batting above .400; junior Braden Fox is batting around .385; senior Cade Belyeu is batting near .350; and junior Henry Allen is batting above .300 and leads the team in home runs with four. Senior Connor Cosby is batting above .300 and leads the team in stolen bases with seven. Senior Brenden Bryant leads the team in strikeouts with 10. 

While the senior leadership of Auburn baseball circa 2023 is already bearing fruit, Cimo mentioned some areas in which the team could improve.

“Offensively we are not very consistent,” Cimo said. “We haven’t played very good defense, and we haven’t been doing very well on offense. I need to get them motivated and going in the right direction.”

Furthermore, Cimo also expanded on some things that his team is doing well — like coming back from early deficits — which will help them get back to the standard set by previous teams.

“They’re very resilient,” Cimo said. “We’ve been coming back and having walk-off hits. The team believes in themselves. We’ve got to get clicking on all cylinders.”

Auburn finally returns home for a double-header with Hartselle on Friday, March 24.