Scouting Auburn baseball's day three in the Auburn Regional

Auburn’s offense continued its torrid postseason scoring pace as the Tigers blasted Florida State in the Auburn Regional, 21-7. Showing their offensive versatility, Auburn built the lead with only one home run, an early three-run shot by Brooks Carlson, and picked up RBIs from eight of the nine lineup regulars before turning on the cannons late - Sonny DiChiara and pinch-hitter Cam Hill had ninth-inning home runs as Auburn scored five in the final frame. SS Brody Moore finished 5-5 with three doubles (an Auburn Regionals record), 5 RBIs, 4 runs scored, and two walks. He reached base in all seven plate appearances in the game.

Facing All-ACC 2nd Team pitcher Bryce Hubbart, Auburn tagged the lefty for four hits and three runs (two earned) in 2.1 innings, his shortest outing of the year. He struck out two and walked three, but his 64 pitches included only 38 strikes because of poor command. He struggled to establish the curveball early, a fact that allowed Auburn’s hitters to “eliminate the breaking ball”, in the words of head coach Butch Thompson, and wait for fastballs to hit. It was an approach that Florida State head coach Mike Martin Jr. admitted made things difficult for his starting pitcher. “They made it uncomfortable for him; their approach and their bat-to-ball skills are outstanding. They're hard to strike out. That’s kind of the way we pitch, we punch out a lot of guys. They put balls in play, put pressure on us.” He acknowledged that Auburn’s hitting approach isn’t something that you face a lot in college baseball. “It’s real tough. Guys are making all the money in the big leagues once they can do that. It’s a throwback if you will, but they’re getting on top of the plate, (saying) ‘let’s go. It’s gonna be hard for you to strike me out.’ Their approach and effort and everything were outstanding.”

Self-inflicted mistakes hurt Florida State, with the seven pitchers combining for sixteen walks, two wild pitches, two batters hit by pitch, and four defensive errors plus multiple misplayed balls in the game (something we touched on in the preview). Martin was candid about the struggles of his pitchers in postgame. “We ran the gamut - we flat out stunk. We have to flush it, hydrate, eat, get rid of it, and be ready to go tomorrow.”

Auburn pitcher Joseph Gonzalez was his usual dominant self, going 6+ innings with four hits and three runs allowed, two of those on a home run to pinch hitter Treyton Rank allowed by reliever Carson Swilling after Gonzo left with two on in the 7th. “I trust my defense a lot, and I think that’s the reason why I can throw many strikes and I feel comfortable on the mound. I make sure I try to get ground balls and they will make the play ”

Previewing Day 3 of the Regionals

Auburn’s the only team remaining in the winner’s bracket and is in the championship game at 6PM, facing the winner of the morning’s elimination game between UCLA and Florida State. Those two teams faced off in the opening game of the regional, with Florida State taking the victory 5-3 behind five strong innings from All-ACC 1st Team lefty Parker Messick. Righty Max Rajcic took the loss for UCLA, going 6 innings with 5 hits and 4 runs allowed. Neither offense was particularly prolific, with only 13 total hits in the contest. Florida State continued to be powered by super-freshman Jaime Ferrer, who went 2-4 with a run scored while playing right field.

With the loser facing elimination, it’s worth looking at pitching usage over the weekend for both squads. UCLA is in better shape, having gotten a deep start from Friday’s starter Rajcic (6 innings) and 4 from Saturday’s starting pitcher Ethan Flanagan. The 16-2 blowout of Southeastern Louisiana allowed UCLA head coach John Savage to save closer Alonzo Treadwell from a 2nd consecutive outing; he threw 18 pitches in the final inning of game one’s loss to Florida State.

Florida State, in comparison, escaped game one in decent shape, having used three relievers to cover the final three innings, but used six different relievers to cover almost seven innings after Hubbart’s early exit in game two against Auburn; it was the worst possible time for Hubbart to have his shortest outing of the season. Florida State plans to pitch LHP Jonah Scolaro against UCLA - the redshirt senior is 2-3 with a 3.55 ERA this season, mostly in relief. His one start, a midweek matchup against rival Florida on April 12th, was a 3.1 inning outing of one-hit, scoreless ball with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts. UCLA’s starting pitcher is not known as of press time.

Auburn’s bullpen is in fairly good shape, as expected after two blowout victories. Head coach Butch Thompson deliberately left Trace Bright in game one to work as much as possible, before asking Konner Copeland and Brooks Fuller to close it out. He attempted the same strategy against Florida State with Carson Swilling and John Armstrong, but ineffectiveness allowed six runs to score in the 7th and 8th innings and only a 1-2-3 double play allowed Armstrong to escape the 8th after the bases were loaded with only one out with only two runs allowed.

Carson Skipper got up and warmed up in the pen in that 8th inning, and that’s something that Thompson said he doesn’t quite know how impactful that will end up being just yet. “I’m the one that got Skipper up - I have to look at him, talk to him, and see how much tread we took off the tires to see what his availability is tomorrow. It was almost to that point - ‘that’s enough. Put in the senior that I know is gonna throw strikes.’ Skipper’s a guy that could do something for us.” All-SEC 2nd team closer Blake Burkhalter is still fresh and available, having not thrown in a competitive game since Auburn’s Tuesday matchup in the SEC Tournament almost two weeks ago, as are veteran righty Chase Isbell, lefty Tommy Sheehan, and freshman righty Chase Allsup.

Scouting a possible Super Regional

Auburn is paired with the Corvallis Regional, hosted by Oregon State. After a 5-4 Friday victory against #4 seed New Mexico State and a 12-3 Saturday victory against #3 seed San Diego, the #1 seed and host Beavers are in the Corvalis Regional Final on Sunday at 6 pm Pacific against the winner of the early Vanderbilt and San Diego matchup. If Oregon State and Auburn both win their regionals, Auburn would travel to Corvalis, Oregon for a three-game Super Regional matchup. If the winner of Vanderbilt/San Diego wins Sunday and Monday over the Beavers, Auburn could secure a home Super Regional with a win on Sunday night.

Schedule

Day three of the Auburn Regional kicks off at 1 pm CST with an elimination game between the Florida State Seminoles and the UCLA Bruins. The winner of that matchup goes on to face Auburn in the Championship game at 6PM - an Auburn win secures a Regional victory, while an Auburn loss means we play a Game 7 on Monday at 6 pm.

Both games of the Auburn Regional’s Day 3 are available for streaming on ESPN+, and the radio call, with Voice of the Tigers Andy Burcham and producer Brad Law, can be heard locally on 93.9 FM and online on the Auburn Sports Network.