Tallahassee Regional begins Friday for Auburn baseball

Tallahassee Regional begins Friday for Auburn baseballTallahassee Regional begins Friday for Auburn baseball

June 1, 2017 LEADING OFF

  • Auburn makes its 20th appearance in the NCAA Tournament this weekend in the Tallahassee Regional. The Tigers (35-24), seeded third in the regional, will face Central Florida (40-20) at 11 a.m. CT Friday at Dick Howser Stadium.
  • Radio coverage from the Auburn Sports Network is also available on Tiger 93.9 in the Auburn/Opelika area. The radio feed is also available on AuburnTigers.com, the TuneIn Radio app and the Auburn Athletics app on your smart phone. The Voice of the Tigers Rod Bramblett and longtime broadcast partner Andy Burcham will describe the action.
  • Friday's game is televised live on ESPN2. Jason Benetti (play-by-play) and Todd Walker (analyst) will call the action.

Auburn vs. UCF



Weekend Schedule

Friday11:00 a.m. CT
JR RHP Keegan Thompson (6-4, 2.43 ERA) vs. RHP Robby Howell (10-0, 3.28 ERA)

QUICK HITTERS

  • Auburn heads into the postseason 35-24 and finished 16-14 in the SEC. It is just the 11th time in program history the Tigers have won 16 SEC games and the first time since winning a program-record 20 games in 2010.
  • SR C Blake Logan was named to the SEC All-Tournament Team after leading all catchers with a .429 average in the tournament. He also hit a sixth-inning, go-ahead home run to break a 3-3 tie in Auburn's win over Ole Miss.
  • JR OF Jonah Todd was named second-team All-SEC and was selected to the SEC All-Defensive team.
  • OF Jonah Todd is 2nd in the SEC with a .385 batting average, tied for 2nd with 87 hits this season, and finished 2nd w/ .404 BA in SEC play.
  • The Tigers are 12-6 on the season in one-run games after going 1-11 in those games in 2016.
  • Auburn won 11 of 14 series in 2017 (including 7 of 10 SEC series), its most series wins since 2003.
  • The Tigers have hit 18 home runs in their last 25 games after recording only 10 in their first 34 contests.
  • RHPs Casey Mize (1.93-2nd) and Keegan Thompson (2.43-4th) are the only teammates who rank in the top 4 in the SEC in ERA.
  • With 35 wins (16 SEC) on the season, Auburn needs just one win to equal its highest win total in a season since 2010 (36 in 2015).
  • Despite missing three starts, RHP Casey Mize is 6th in the SEC with 97 strikeouts and has allowed the fewest walks of any starter in the league (8).

SERIES HISTORY

Auburn is 4-1 all-time against Central Florida. The teams played four times during the 1993 season (twice in Orlando, twice in Auburn) and once in 1998 in Kissimmee, Fla. Auburn has won the last three meetings.

LOOKING AHEAD

Auburn will face either top-seeded Florida State or fourth-seeded Tennessee Tech on Saturday. Auburn would play at 11 a.m. CT if it falls to UCF or at 6 p.m. CT in a winners' bracket game.