Auburn Baseball: A Season of Missed Opportunities
by Jay Coulter on May 23, 2011 3:00 AM CDT
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When the straw that stirs the drink in your athletic program claims a national championship, it tends to raise the bar for all other sports. That's certainly been the case at Auburn this year. With a national title in the books for football, fans are now asking when it will happen in basketball and baseball.
While Auburn basketball coach Tony Barbee has been given a pass in his first season, such is not the case for baseball coach John Pawlowski. As Auburn prepares for the SEC Baseball Tournament in Hoover, many fans are still shaking their heads wondering what might have been this year.
After claiming the SEC West title a year ago and playing Clemson to the wire in the NCAA Regional, hopes were high for Pawlowski's third Auburn team. Several preseason polls had them in the Top 25.
After its monumental collapse this weekend in Knoxville, many are now wondering what direction the program is heading.
Needing to win two-of-three from the worst team in the conference to claim the SEC West, Auburn gave up two runs in the bottom of ninth on Saturday at Tennessee to blow its chance at a second-seed in this week's tournament.
Trying to get a handle on this squad is akin to cracking the code to why Alabama fans don't brush their teeth. There are just some things we'll never know. This Auburn team has had the most contradictory season in school history - in any sport.
After starting the season 2-7 in SEC play, it finished the year 12-9 down the stretch, including six conference series wins. Yet they lost to Samford twice and gave up wins to Jacksonville State and Troy.
Instead of going to Hoover a second-seed, Auburn backs into the tournament as the eighth-seed and must face top-seeded South Carolina on Wednesday. With seemingly everything to play for this weekend in Knoxville, Pawlowski's team decided to throw in the towel.
Watching Auburn dominate in series wins over Georgia and Alabama, you get the feeling this unit can make some noise this week. Then again, they may not show up at all.
Being put in the same bracket as South Carolina and Vanderbilt appears to be a death warrant. Despite going 0-6 against both schools in the regular season, things may not be as bad as they appear.
With NCAA Region bids already locked up for the Gamecocks and Commodores, both coaches are likely to go easy on their pitching staffs. This should give Auburn a fighting chance. It's widely believed Auburn must get two wins in Hoover to make the NCAA field.
I'm a firm believer Pawlowski is still the right man for the job. However, this year will likely be his last mulligan. A 29-27 record won't get it at Auburn or any other SEC school.
This program has the facilities and commitment to be contenders for the College World Series. In a year where things were suppose to move forward, they fell back. It's time to look ahead... and that starts on Wednesday.
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Baseball's a funny game
Those mid-week games mean a lot more to USA and Samford than they do to Auburn. That kind of thing happens all the time.
You also have to remember that this is a weird year for college baseball. A lot of scouting, recruiting, and roster construction was done with the old bats in mind. I mean come on, LSU is missing Hoover. Considering that Pawlowski got us to Hoover for the first time in 6 years, then got us back again, forgive me if I don’t want to start selling the man up the river.
But hey, maybe you’re one of those guys that will start worrying about Chizik after 7 wins next year…
I think it's safe to say...
that Auburn has gotten more value out of Chizik in two seasons than they have in Pawlowski’s three years. I disagree with your statement about the mid-week games. Whether Auburn is up for them or not, they shouldn’t lose to Samford twice. Put whatever face on it you want, this season has underachieved.
In 2009 when LSU won the NC we lost to Nichols.
Freaking Nichols.
Midweek losses happen. It’s baseball. Those small school teams are playing their World Series on Wednesday nights sometimes. SEC teams are toying with their lineup and giving freshman pitchers a chance to prove themselves.
"I know the quarterback has a strong arm, but...I mean the ball's not gonna outrun ME" --PP7
“But hey, maybe you’re one of those guys that will start worrying about Chizik after 7 wins next year…”
The Long-Knives Come and the Long-Knives Go … and, no one really knows who will be next in the crosshairs around here!
Especially
with the commenters.
Auburn University: "Cutting corners" on everything since December 2008.
by War Eagle Atlanta on May 23, 2011 5:22 PM CDT up reply actions
I'm not ready to even question Pawlowski...
Erratic pitching did more to doom their fate than anything IMO. I’m with AU_Jonesy above, a return trip to Hoover is all anyone could ask this season.
Come and join me at http://trackemtigers.com
Agree on Pawlowski.
But I’m not sure pitching was the main problem this year. There were issues there at times but the difference between last year and this year has been the hitting.
by GreenvilleAUfan on May 23, 2011 1:49 PM CDT up reply actions
Been driving myself crazy since saturday
All I can think of is, “Had we not given up 9 runs in the ninth vs. Georgia, we would have had the two seed.” It makes me want to cry.
Auburn Tigers 2010 National Champions
Me too.
But there were a lot of those missed opportunities this year. For the most part pitching came through for us this year We had so many one run games this year. If we copuld have scored a run here or there, it would have been different. We were often so close yet so far away.
So. Carolina is a strong team but we beat them in last year’s tournament before they went on to win the CWS. I think we can do it this year even though it will be tough. I’m planning on going to see Auburn beat S.C.
Those nine runs definitely hurt Fly, but ....
… I think Pawlowski got about as much out of this pitching staff as he could. Heck, if Slade could have had a little more run support in that last game (11 runners stranded) we wouldn’t be talking about this now. Auburn would be the West champs for the second consecutive year.
The biggest problem all year was timely hitting. The Tigers had the hits and got the runners on, but could not get them in. You can’t leave runners on and win ball games, at least not enough to win you the championship.
AubTigerman
"The reason you come to Auburn is because of Auburn people.This is a special place, from the coaches all the way to the fans" - Andrew McCain OT
I agree, and there is no way that any of us can point to one game and say that that particular one kept us from winning the west… but when I think of missed opportunities this year that meltdown just comes to mind. I haven’t given up on the season by any stretch of the imagination though. All we need is one win which we are more than capable of. I would love to see us make it to the Atlanta Regional (My dad is a Georgia Tech grad and that would make for a fun weekend of baseball with him). We’ve got at least 2 games to get just one win. Season starts now.
Auburn Tigers 2010 National Champions
by FlyAuburn13 on May 23, 2011 12:44 PM CDT up reply actions
I love this:
Trying to get a handle on this squad is akin to cracking the code to why Alabama fans don’t brush their teeth. There are just some things we’ll never know.
Like somehow you guys are less redneck than Alabama when you’re the ag college in the state. Neither group is more redneck than the other: you’re all Alabamians. The only difference between Bama fans and Auburn fans is the order of the A and the U.
Don't you
have some heavy traffic to go play in, or something?
Think of it the same as Georgia fans talking shit on Tech or Florida…or Auburn, for that matter.
I just got back
I’m fine with shit talk, it just tickles me to death when you guys call Bama fans rednecks. Just like when Bama fans call you rednecks, though they might have more of a claim because it is traditional for the non-ag school to call the ag school fans rednecks (like Tech does to us). You’re supposed to talk trash about things that are different from you, like Georgia fans calling Techies nerds or making fun of Gators and their jorts. It’s better to not be the pot calling the kettle black.
No worries mate
I do what I can. Still with the “soulja boy”, huh? I didn’t realize we hurt you that bad.
Baseball's a game...
that really relies more on current form than overall team talent. It’s not unheard of for a team to get “hot” and just run through a tournament. A good example of this is Fresno St. in the CWS a few years ago. I wouldn’t give up hope yet.
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