Auburn baseball readies for Florida State in the Auburn Regional

Butch Thompson told them to “prove it.” Prove you belonged in the postseason. Prove you deserve to host an NCAA Regional. And for a night, they did.

Auburn knocked out Southeastern Louisiana starter Adam Guth in the 1st, tagging him for eight runs on six hits in the 1st without recording an out. Auburn was gifted free baserunners via a walk and an HBP by the true freshman lefty and cashed them all in with four home runs in the inning, including two from switch hitter Cole Foster, the 2nd coming off of righty reliever Daniel Dugas. It’s believed that Cole Foster is the 1st Auburn player to hit a home run from both sides of the plate in the same inning in school history, a feat that has only happened three times in MLB (including once by former Auburn Tiger Mark Bellhorn on August 29th, 2002). Foster added a three-run blast in the 4th, giving him an Auburn postseason record 9 RBIs for the game.

Pierce, DiChiara, and LaRue (2) added home runs for an Auburn offense that came into this game on a bit of a cold streak, tallying only eleven runs across their last four games, a stretch where they went 1-2 against Kentucky in Lexington and then lost their first SEC Tournament game to Kentucky. The final, 19-7, represents one of the largest margins of victory since a 15-0 shutout of Clemson in 2003. Auburn’s 20 hits and seven home runs were both season highs, while their 18 RBIs tied the previous season-high, set in a 19-5 victory against Ole Miss on March 18th.

RHP Trace Bright was staked to an early lead and made it hold, allowing four runs on six hits and two walks but striking out ten (a career-high) and collecting the first postseason win of his career. He admitted in postgame interviews how the long wait during the bottom of the 1st would have affected him earlier in his career. “You gotta stay focused and it takes some time to learn - in my freshman, sophomore year - maybe I’m not mature enough to do that. But as a starting pitcher, you take all the runs you can get. It’s comforting to know that they’ve got your back, but it can be difficult sitting over there while Cole (Foster)’s busy hitting home runs right and left.”

Thompson was asked early in the blowout about potentially pulling Bright early and saving him to come back on short rest for a potential Monday elimination game and dismissed the possibility. “In the second inning, I got tapped on the shoulder - we had a little conversation about Trace. I wasn’t interested because if I asked him to come back, even if he threw only two or three innings, we’re not talking about a four-day turnaround (Bright threw 5 innings at Kentucky on a Friday and then returned for 2.2 innings of relief in the SEC Tournament on Tuesday), we’re talking about a two-day turnaround for an ‘if’ game. I think we did the right there.”

Today’s matchup - (#1) Auburn vs (#3) Florida State

Auburn’s facing a 2nd lefty starter on the weekend in All-ACC 2nd Team starter Bryce Hubbart. On the season, he’s 8-2 with a 3.18 ERA and has 94 strikeouts to only 18 walks in 73.2 innings pitched. The redshirt-sophomore from Windermere, FL thrives on deception - he has a funky delivery that, while unorthodox, is easily repeatable and disguises his secondary offerings well. Traditionally a fastball/changeup/curveball pitcher, Hubbart’s recently added in a slurvy slider with more velocity and horizontal break than his deep curveball, which features late movement to miss bats. He’s also added velocity this season, bringing the average speed of the fastball from the high 80s to the low-to-mid 90s, touching 96 in the ACC Tournament. It’s a package of deceptive, unusual pitches and movements that is hard on hitters. He’s being scouted by MLB teams and is projected to be selected in the top five rounds of this year’s MLB Draft; while his mechanics and delivery are not prototypical, they work and can effectively get outs.

Thompson acknowledged the extra work they’ve had to put in to prepare the offense for multiple lefties this weekend. “My knees are hurting. I’ve been throwing multiple groups of batting practice the last few days.” He detailed the virtual reality headsets the players use to get looks at a pitcher and described the programmable hitting machine in the Josh Donaldson Hitting Lab that can recreate any pitcher’s arsenal, down to exact spin and angle, but clarified that it wasn’t about the technology and prep, but rather the player’s ability to be “locked in” with their approach. “I think I was most impressed tonight when they (Southeastern Louisiana) took the lefty out and they brought in a right-hander. One, you were sitting there at 86-87, now it’s like a cut fastball. When Sonny went opposite field home run right there? I just knew we were locked in from the jump. When somebody we prepared for a few days to face (is taken out and) they switched to a right hander, and the ball is going the other way and (has) a cut and we continued to maintain the level of at-bats? That’s when I knew our guys were really locked in.” Switching pitching looks when you go to the bullpen is a tactic many college coaches utilize, to disorient the hitters. “A lot of times, if you’re having success at something, they’re gonna go to the pen and bring something exactly opposite out and the guys really bridged that well tonight.”

Offensively, this Florida State team is driven by versatile freshman Jaime Ferrer. Described as a “super-utility” player, the Puerto Rico native plays both catcher and outfield for the Seminoles and leads the team with a .326 average while providing “a spark” on offense with timely hitting. His 8 homeruns is 3rd on the team, behind Miami transfer Alex Toral’s 16 and freshman outfielder James Tibbs and his 10. Not an incredibly powerful team, the Seminoles have only 49 home runs on the year with a team batting average of .278. Some key upperclassmen Florida State was counting on for offense this season have not delivered, with the trio of seniors Reese Albert, Alex Toral, and Logan Lacey combining for only 24 home runs (16 by Toral) and all batting under .300, with Toral at only .215. On Friday against UCLA, the group, batting 6th-8th in the lineup, accounted for no hits, five runners left on base, two strikeouts and only one RBI on a solo home run by Toral in the 9th.

They’re a team built to win low-scoring games, with a trio of elite pitchers in Friday’s starter (and first team All-ACC) Parker Messick, Hubbart, and top reliever Wyatt Crowell. Florida State coach Mike Martin Jr. used Crowell against UCLA on Friday, giving him two innings in which he walked three and struck out two over 45 pitches. Crowell has the lowest ERA and most strikeouts in the entire Seminole bullpen, and Martin clarified after the game that Friday’s inefficient appearance was out of character for the normally lock-down closer. “Wyatt couldn’t get comfortable,” Martin Jr. said. “That wasn’t Wyatt Crowell. He was just a little bit out of sync. We went to get him because some of the things he said, it didn't seem right, and sometimes that happens.” Crowell’s appeared 26 times this season, but never on back-to-back days, so it’s very likely that Auburn manages to avoid the sophomore from Cumming, GA in Saturday’s matchup.

Defensively, Florida State’s improved this season, but that brings them to only below-average. Their fielding percentage of .968 ranks 160th in the nation (out of 293 qualifying teams) with 66 errors in 56 games. (For comparison, Auburn is 11th in the country with a .983 fielding percentage and only 40 errors in 56 games). Florida State committed two charged errors in Friday’s matchup against UCLA, neither of which led to a score but prolonged innings and advanced runners into scoring position. It’s a weakness that Auburn is primed to capitalize on - this Tigers team thrives on putting balls into play to stress a defense, while supporting their pitchers by “dominating the routine play” on defense.

The pitching matchup is one to savor, with Auburn countering the All-ACC 2nd Teamer Hubbart with sinkerballer Joseph Gonzalez. 6-2 on the season with a 2.74 ERA, “Gonzo” has been Auburn’s most reliable pitcher, going deep into the heart of the SEC slate with a complete game against Vanderbilt and multiple other appearances into the 7th inning. Thompson was pleased that Auburn was able to save the bullpen by using only Konner Copeland and Brooks Fuller to get through the final four innings, but expressed that Gonzalez could make that a moot point. “He’s welcome to throw eight or nine innings if he would like, but we opted for the rested bullpen because we know that there’s big challenges ahead.”

SCHEDULE

The 2022 Auburn Regional continues on Saturday, June 4th with two matchups in Plainsman Park. #2 seed UCLA is in an elimination game with #4 seed Southeastern Louisiana at noon, with host and #1 seed Auburn taking on #3 seed Florida State at 6PM. Both games will be 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.

Interesting quirk of the schedule: Because Florida State was the away team in their opening game of the Regionals, they will be the home team tonight for the matchup against Auburn. The Tigers will utilize the visitor’s dugout and bat first in the game.