'A new chapter': Auburn baseball begins fall practice

'A new chapter': Auburn baseball begins fall practice'A new chapter': Auburn baseball begins fall practice

AUBURN, Ala. – Returning to the diamond for the first time since the College World Series, Auburn began fall baseball practice Friday.

"Take this next 45-day window to start building a new house, starting building a new ballclub, and starting putting these pieces together," said Butch Thompson, entering his fifth season as Auburn's head coach.

"So neat to see all of our fans and people who supported us through our run at the end of last year. As everybody knows, it's time to move on to a new chapter."

Auburn returns much of the lineup that took the Tigers to Omaha, including senior slugger Conor Davis.

"We have the type of players coming back, we have another chance to make a run like that," Davis said. "It's a whole different team. New season. Even though we have a ton of guys back, we know it's a fresh start for us. If we want to go to Omaha again, it starts today."

On the mound, juniors Tanner Burns, Cody Greenhill and Jack Owen will lead a mix of returning and new pitchers. Owen started the Tigers' first game in Omaha.

"It was huge to get there, but we didn't work all fall and all spring just to get there," Owen said. "We want to win a national championship. Now that we know that we can, and we've got the potential to do it, I think it was huge to get there but it's not where the line stops. We've got to keep moving forward."

After being named to the Freshman All-SEC team last season, Ryan Bliss will practice at shortstop this fall, moving over from second.

 "It's pretty incredible being able to play on other side of Will Holland for 66 games and seeing how he operated that position," Bliss said. "I feel like I learned a lot last year by watching him play, talking to him.

"Now that I'm trying to fight for that position, my thing is giving the guy beside me the same thing that Will gave me. My goal right now is to get back in the swing of things on that side of the field and see what happens from there."

Auburn will play fall exhibition games at Columbus State and home against Auburn Montgomery, honoring legendary Auburn pitcher and former AUM coach Q.V. Lowe.

Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer