Auburn (20-20, 2-16) will travel to Baton Rouge this weekend to take on LSU (26-16, 5-13) in a pivotal series for Auburn's postseason hopes. It is not a secret to anyone that Auburn's season has failed to meet expectations. With so many returning players plus strong additions through high school and transfer portal recruiting, the bar was set high. Unfortunately for the orange and blue faithful, Auburn has struggled mightily in conference play. The good news is Auburn has a few more SEC series left to attempt to make a run.
Auburn head coach Butch Thompson put it bluntly after Tuesday's win over Florida A&M.
"I want the fog gone and a ton of gratitude the rest of this year because we march into our postseason right now, Thompson said. "Our postseason began today, in all honesty."
Tuesday's win should give a confidence boost to the postseason mentality that Thompson is imploring his players to take on, but the weekend in Baton Rouge will bring a big test. Similar to Auburn, LSU has failed to meet expectations. Ranked number two in the country to start the season LSU sought another big year, but then SEC play began and it has not been friendly. The Bayou Bengals only have three more SEC wins than Auburn. They are playing for their postseason life just as much as Auburn is.
While Auburn's pitchers have caught the brunt of the blame for the woes this season, it was Auburn's lineup that struggled last weekend at Mississippi State. If Auburn hopes to win the series in Baton Rouge the bats must get going again. Tuesday's performance is a good sign that they will. Auburn scored 11 runs on 11 hits in eight innings. That kind of production may be difficult to replicate, but something similar would go a long way toward winning against LSU.
As for Auburn's pitching, many different arms have thrown this year, but Thompson has yet to find someone who can consistently deliver good results. A player whom Thompson hoped would do that heading into the season was Chase Allsup. Allsup has struggled just like his counterparts, but his performance on Tuesday could be a positive sign going into the weekend. Allsup threw five innings giving up one earned run with a career-high eight strikeouts.
Thompson knows his Allsup and his pitchers as a whole need to carry the success of Tuesday into the weekend.
"You can't let the fog set in on you because the game is only going to reward your ability to shove it in the zone and make a quality pitch," Thompson said. "If three or four hitters come to the plate and you can't make a pitch at game time, you're not going to be rewarded. We've got to be able to have moments, that has really escaped us on the weekends."
Can Auburn put together a strong series both at the plate and on the mound? If so, it could result in the Tigers' first SEC series win of the year. With a postseason mindset, Auburn will head to Baton Rouge with the goal to win every game from here on out.
The series begins Friday night with the first pitch slated for 6:30 PM. The game will air on the SEC Network+ and the Auburn Sports Network.
