Auburn baseball opens Regional action with #4 Penn
Auburn baseball is hosting a Regional for the 2nd consecutive season, the first time that's happened in program history.
A season after welcoming UCLA, Florida State, and Southeastern Louisiana to Plainsman Park, Auburn's squaring off against Southern Miss, Samford, and Penn. But don't underestimate these teams just because they're not from the Power 5 - there's real talent here.
"I cautioned everyone - as we prepared, this feels like as tough of a field as we had last year," said head coach Butch Thompson, addressing the media on Thursday. "Sometimes the casual fan can't get past the big names: We had a Florida State and UCLA here last year, which is that branded name. These are good baseball teams."
Penn, who won the inaugural Ivy League tournament to punch their first ticket to the NCAA Tournament since 1995, finished 32-14 (16-5 in conference) and brings probably the 2nd best pitcher in the entire Regional (behind Southern Miss's Tanner Hall) to bear in Ryan Dromboski.
Dromboski, a righthander out of Columbus, NJ, was the Ivy League Pitcher of the Year after going 7-2 with a 2.87 ERA. In twelve starts, covering sixty-two and two-thirds innings, he struck out eighty-seven batters and allowed an opponent batting average of only .189.
Thankfully, Dromboski's going to be a familiar look on the mound, with Thompson comparing him to Auburn ace Joseph Gonzalez, who has missed most of the season with shoulder issues and is out for the rest of the year after a minor surgical procedure.
"That fastball movement - we worked the machine a little bit, trying to create some sink and trying to continue to get lined up with that pitch for our hitters."
The fastball for Dromboski, which is a sinker, sits in the 91-94 range (similar to Gonzalez), with a slider and a changeup that has splitter-like movement. He does throw the offspeed pitches more often that Gonzalez, and so it's an adjustment for Auburn's hitters to make tonight. "This is probably a thirty-eight percent sinker deal, like Joseph (thirty-two percent in 2022), but a lot more of the offspeed stuff - a lot more sliders, a lot more changeups, and very successful" with them.
Just getting Dombroski out of the game isn't enough, as Penn's closer is a tricky righty in Carson Ozmer. Throwing from a sidearm slot, Ozmer has a 2.17 ERA in twenty-three relief appearances, striking out thirty-one in twenty-nine innings and allowing a batting average of only .196. Fireman Edward Sarti (3.20 ERA), who is their "get out of a jam" guy similar to Auburn's John Armstrong, is the go-to reliever during an inning, while fireballer Eli Trop (2.30 ERA) is a high-90s bridge to the closer Ozmer.
Auburn is countering with the sophomore righty from Dothan, Chase Allsup, who has a fastball that he can run up to 98 and has reached a new level of reliability with the slider, thanks to a tweaked grip.
Key for Allsup will be having his stuff set from the very first inning. "His ability to get ahead. There's so many more strikes from the stretch - we'll probably spend a lot more time in the stretch than the wind-up. If you're talking about what's the level two or deeper level of what you're trying to achieve (on the mound), early on he's gotten stronger. I like his last few outings. I thought he threw pretty competitive in the Vanderbilt game. [..] He's done a nice job. We think this is the best matchup in pitching."
Offensively, don't underestimate this roster just because of their Ivy League status - three of their current hitters are already committed to Power 5 programs for next season, while two others are possible draft picks in this summer's MLB Draft. While they may not sport the power numbers that Auburn's used to facing - only one player, 3B Wyatt Henseler, has double-digit homeruns - they've got four players batting over .300 and six more batting .250 or better.
And power's not really the name of the game for Penn - their goal is to wear out your starting pitching. "They'll try to link up," said Thompson. "When I say 'patient hitters', they're really trying to pass it to the next guy and put pitches into you. It's not a track meet (they have only 46 steals as a team), it's not seventeen sacrifices. Maybe a little bit more than our league, they're just trying to link it up, have good veteran at-bats with pitchers."
Penn's fared well against tougher competition, narrowly losing a three game series at South Carolina to open the season and taking two out of three at Tulane, who is in the Baton Rouge Regional as a #4 seed.
But Thompson feels like his team is ready. "We feel like we are prepared. We feel like we're a confident ball club."
All that's left is to go out and play. "You have to get to that stage to make a run, and really all our focus is on Penn, because they're what stands in the way of us being able to dance in this tournament."
How to Watch the Auburn Tigers vs the Penn Quakers on Friday, June 2nd
Auburn's first game of the Auburn Regional vs Penn has a start time of 6PM. The game will be streamed digitally on ESPN+, and the radio call with "Voice of the Tigers" Andy Burcham and Brad Law is available locally on 93.9 FM, online at AuburnTigers.com, and on the Auburn Athletics App.
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