It's that time of the year at Auburn, the time when football recruiting is over and basketball is in the middle of the SEC schedule. Spring is around the corner. Soon chilly mornings will give way to longer and warmer days. Frost on the ground will disappear as new growth starts to bud and people look to be involved in more outside activities.
For those who love sports, it's a time to get out the tennis racket, dust off the golf clubs, or head to the ball park. And at Auburn it's a time for Spring Sports to get underway.
Already Auburn's No.1 rankedEquestrian Teamhas compiled a 7-1 record including Saturday's defeat of No. 4 Oklahoma State in their spring opener. The Tigers will take on rival Georgia next on Feb. 18, at 1 p.m. at the Auburn University Horse Center. If your looking for something to do that weekend come on out, admission is free.
Auburn Track & Fieldstarted Jan. 14 at the Alabama Invitational. And this past Saturday, sprinter Harry Adams ran the fastest time in the world in the 60 meters with a time of 6.55 seconds. He won the title at the Auburn Indoor Invitational at the Birmingham Crossplex. The Tigers are presently preparing to compete in the SEC Championships in Lexington, Kentucky on Feb. 24.
The 20th-ranked Auburn Men's Tennis Teamstarted their season on January 21st with a 7- 0 victory over Troy. They defeated 18th ranked North Carolina 4-1 Monday in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Atlanta.
The Tigers (4-0) now advance to the ITA National Indoor Team Championships for the first time in program history, Feb. 17-20 in Charlottesville, Va.
The Women's Tennis Teamdefeated Troy in their season opener Saturday and then defeated Southern Miss and Alabama A&M in the Tigers' home opener on Sunday.
For the second-consecutive week, Auburn Gymnastics posted a season-high total score; this time against Alabama (196.325-196.250) Friday in front of a record crowd of 7,299 in the Auburn Arena. The Tigers' next meet will be tomorrow against Arkansas in Fayetteville.
The No. 2 ranked Men's Golf Team will begin their season Februaruy 11th at the Gator Invitational in Gainesville, Florida. The No.3 Women will start the next day February 12th at the Central Florida Invitational in Orlando.
The Swimming & Diving Teams have been competing in meets all year. Both the men's and women's teams just finished the regular season last Saturday ranked No. 7 in the country. The Tigers are now getting ready to participate in the SEC Championships Feb. 15 in Knoxville. More meets will follow in February and March in preparation for the NCAA's which begin the end of March.
The Auburn Softball Teamwill open it's 2012 schedule Feb. 9 in the first of nine consecutive home games to begin the season. Their opener will be against Alabama State on February ninth.
The Tigers' will be playing their usual tough schedule in 2012 as 13 of their opponents advanced to NCAA Regionals last season, seven of those teams reached the Super Regionals and five opponents advanced to the NCAA Women's College World Series (WCWS).
Auburn Baseball held their annual Diamond Club Preseason Banquet Saturday night. Justin Bryant, Jon Luke Jacobs and Cory Luckie were named the team captains for the 2012 baseball season. The Tigers will host Missouri in their first game on Friday, Feb. 17 at Hitchcock Field.
While I try to follow all spring sports, I'm a particular fan of baseball. For me there's nothing more enjoyable than sitting in the stands on a spring night in Plainsman Park. Season tickets are already on sale while individual game tickets can be purchase starting Feb. 13. I've got my order in and I can hardly wait.
If you haven't been to a spring game (match or meet) lately - you owe it to yourself to visit the Loveliest Village of the Plains, pull for the Tigers, and enjoy one of Auburn's Spring Sports.
This time last year, it felt like the entire Auburn Baseball Team was going to the majors. The end of the best baseball played on the Plains in 15 years saw eleven Auburn players taken in the Major League Draft. Another five recruits were drafted bringing the total to 16.
That number tied an SEC record as well as tied UCLA for the most players drafted from one team in 2010.
Consequently, Auburn's 2011 season did not measure up to the 2010 Championship year. The missing players from last year's roster played a major role in the Tiger's finishing 29-29 on the season.
This year ten Auburn players were drafted including three juniors and four recruits.
Senior First baseman Kevin Patterson was drafted by the Blue Jays, senior RHP Bradley Hendricks went to Tampa Bay and senior star catcher Tony Caldwell has signed with the Florida Marlins.
This past week junior third baseman Dan Gamache was awarded a $125,000.00 bonus to sign with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Dan's offensive punch will be missed in the lineup next year as he hit for a .337 average, with 16 home runs and 77 RBIs in his three years at Auburn
Gamache's decision to follow his dream leavesthe following Auburn players with a tough decision ... play for Auburn or sign a major league contract:
* OF Colton Davis, (signee), Houston Astros, 50th round
Of particular concern for the Tigers would be the loss of McElroy. If Casey turns pro, he will be leaving big shoes to fill. He led the team in hitting last year (at .372) and was named first-team All-SEC; has a .330 career batting average, with 25 home runs, and131 RBIs.
Another big hit to the Tigers would be the possible departure of pitcher Derek Varnadore. He transferred in from Chattahoochee Valley Community College this year and quickly became "the Ace" of the pitching staff with a 3.68 ERA and a 6-3 record. He had 74 strikeouts in 88 innings.
Unfortunately Coach Pawlowski will have to wait till August 15th to have an idea which players he can count on for next year's roster. The 15th is the deadline for underclassmen to ink a contract.
On a related note. It's at this time every year that I get aggravated all over again with the NCAA's different set of rules regarding the amateurism of college baseball athletes.
While no one can begrudge any player from pursuing a professional career, I will never understand why the NCAA allows baseball players to participate in the MLB Draft. Players even have the opportunity to talk with MLB Scouts about signing contracts.
But if a football player even so much as looks at an NFL agent he will lose his college eligibility. The disparity in treatment between baseball players and other athletes has never made any sense - on several levels.
Not the least of which is what it does to end a student athlete's college education as well as the major roster management headaches it gives baseball coaches.
College baseball coaches are given the same mandate as their football counterparts - Win. The only difference is ...
The NCAA ties one of the baseball coach's hands behind his back.
Auburn players express disappointment at Tigers elimination from the SEC Tournament
Isn't there a game where you get points for coming close? Oh yeah it's called horseshoes. Too bad that doesn't apply in baseball. For the Auburn Tigers have been close all year, having lost eight one run games during the regular season they came up one run short (3-2) again today in an SEC Tournament loss to Georgia.
The loss hurts on several levels. First what Tiger doesn't feel particular pain to lose any game to our oldest rival. Second it is a reminder that this team came within one run and one game of repeating as Western Division Champs. And finally the loss ended the Tigers dream of qualifying for a second consecutive NCAA Tournament.
Before the NCAA implemented the .500 + 1 rule Auburn would probably be in the NCAA since the Tigers have one of the strongest RPI's in the nation. There will probably be teams that are not as strong from weaker conferences that make the big dance. Nevertheless, it is what it is and Auburn goes home.
One has to wonder how much the toned down bats affected the Tigers this year. There didn't seem to be much late inning heroics as has been evident in previous SEC years. One thing is for certain, Auburn was plagued by untimely hitting all year.
And that was the case Thursday evening. While Tony Caldwell went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Casey McElroy hit a solo homerun in the fourth, Auburn also had runners on first and third in the same inning with no outs and couldn’t get them in.
There is a lot of disappointment tonight on the Plains. But there is still room for optimism. Sure the Tigers coulda and maybe shoulda done better. But I submit they had a good year after all.
Consider that last year just when it appeared that John Pawlowski's group had brought Auburn Baseball back to glory, having it's best season in 15 years, MLB swept down and snatched up 12 from the SEC West Division Champs and five of their recruits.
That total ties an SEC record as well as tying UCLA for the most players drafted from one team last year. All together, the five recruits put the total Auburn players/recruits that were drafted by MLB teams at seventeen.
With most of those players leaving for the lights, many questioned whether Pawlowski would be able to get Auburn back to the SEC Tournament in 2011. The general feeling was if he did that, it would be an even greater feat than having won the West in 2010.
Well in our disappointment we need to remember that goal was accomplished this year. The Tigers did come close - and I believe because of it ... winning the conference is not so far away.
Kevin Patterson had a 2 run double in Wednesday's loss to South Carolina.
The 2011 Auburn Baseball season will either continue or end today when the Tigers take on Georgia in an elimination game in the SEC Tournament.
In Wednesday's game Auburn appeared to have things in hand as the Tigers jumped out to a 3-0 first inning lead over South Carolina. However, the Gamecocks showed why they are the No.1 team in the nation when they came storming back to take a 7-3 victory at Birmingham's Regions Park.
South Carolina's ace Michael Roth settled down after that first inning and held the Tigers to six hits and two walks while pitching a complete game.
All-SEC catcher Tony Caldwelland First Baseman Kevin Patterson provided the Tiger offense. Caldwell (1-for-3) drove in Auburn's first run with a two-out single and Patterson (2-for-4) drove in two with a double.
Auburn took two of three from Georgia during the regular season but the Bulldogs will be fighting to stay alive in the tournament too.
For the Tigers, (29-28) this game will be a do or die situation. They have to finish over .500 to have an opportunity to beeligible for the NCAA Tournament. Aloss today would not only eliminate them from the SEC Tournament, but effectively eliminate them from any chance at the NCAA Tournament and end their season altogether.
Auburn Head Coach John Pawlowski said. "Our guys understand the magnitude of (the game) and they know we have to go out and play hard if we want to stick around for another day."
The Big Hurt was one of three former Auburn greats to be inducted into the Ala. Sports Hall of Fame.
"You could see how great a player he would be the first time he walked out on the field at Auburn." Legendary Auburn Baseball Coach Hal Baird said about former Tiger great Frank Thomas." Baird added, "He was the greatest hitter I ever saw in college baseball"
Thomas was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame this past Saturday in Birmingham. During his senior year Thomas led the SEC with a .403 batting avg, with 83 runs batted in, and was voted the SEC MVP. He hit 49 career homeruns and was the first Auburn baseball player to win consensus All American honors.
Nicknamed "The Big Hurt" for his prowess at the plate, Frank was a two time MVP and five time All Star with the Chicago White Sox . He drove in 1704 runs, and hit 521 homeruns. He is the only player in major league history to have 7 consecutive seasons of a .300 avg, at least 100 walks, 100 runs scored, 100 RBI's, and hit at least 20 homeruns.
With numbers like that, Thomas should go into Cooperstown in 2014, the first year he will be eligible.
Joining Thomas in the 2011 Auburn class was Auburn Football great David Hill and Basketball star Henry Hart.
Hill was one of the best offensive lineman to ever play on the Plains. He was named to the Auburn Team of the Decade for the 1960's.
He played professionally for the Kansas City Chiefs and is fourth on the Chiefs list for the most games ever played (149) by a Chiefs offensive lineman.
During his career he earned two AFC Championship rings and one Super Bowl ring.
The late Henry Hart was a guard on the first Auburn team to win the SEC Basketball Championship. He was named three times to the All- South Eastern Conference Team (1957,1959, 1960) and was co-MVP of the SEC in 1960.
In 1960 Hart received the Cliff Hare Award for Auburn University’s most outstanding athlete.
The Auburn Family is proud of all of these former Tigers. Congratulations to them and their families.
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.
Auburn Sophomore Slade Smith dominated Tennessee for 8 1/3 innings Saturday.
The Auburn Baseball team was two outs away from clinching their second consecutive SEC Western Division Championship Saturday, when they gave up a 4-3 win to the Tennessee Volunteers. The loss keeps Auburn from being the first Tiger team since 1965 to repeat as Division champs.
Adding insult to injury, the loss also cost Auburn an opportunity to be the No. 2 seed in the upcoming SEC Tournament. The defeat by the league's last place team moved Auburn from the number two seed in the SEC Tournament to the eighth seed. The Tigers finished in a three way tie for second place in the West with Mississippi State and Alabama.
Had the Tigers won the game, they would have finished with the identical record as Division Champ Arkansas. Yet Auburn would have been the outright champion since they held the tie breaker over the Hogs.
Auburn missed several chances to put the Vols away including leaving a runner on third in the sixth inning and loading the bases in the second and seventh innings. The Tigers left a total of 11 runners on base for the day.
Sophomore pitcher Slade Smith pitched a beautiful game for eight innings. He threw six hitless innings and didn't give up a run until the eighth. Smith struck out eight batters in eight and one third innings. Then a hit batter, a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt, and an RBI groundout tied the game.
Dillon Ortman came on in relief and gave up - an up the middle base hit to Andrew Toles' and the Vols won by one run, snatching away the Tigers bid for a repeat SEC West Championship.
After all the dust settled from Saturday's SEC games, the Tigers learned they are scheduled to face defending National Champion and top-seeded South Carolina on Wednesday in the opening round of the Conference Tournament. The berth marks Coach John Pawlowski 's second SEC Tournament in his three year tenure.
Auburn will need to win two games in the tournament to have a chance to make the NCAA field. That may be a tall task seeing how the Tigers lost all three games they played against the Gamecocks this year and were swept by Co-Champion Vanderbilt, a team that is in the same bracket.
However, if Auburn can pick up one SEC Tourney win, it still may be possible to make the NCAA due to the Tigers high RPI ranking.
The only thing for certain is this season has been the craziest SEC race in memory. Four teams from the West and three teams from the East began the final weekend of conference play tied for first place in their divisions.
So there is still hope, going by the way this season has played out, anything is possible when Auburn and South Carolina meet in the SEC Tournament Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. in Hoover.
SEC TOURNAMENT Wednesday Schedule:
(All times CST) Game One - 9:30 a.m. - # 2 Arkansas vs. # 7 Alabama
Game Two - Thirty mins. after game 1 - #3 Florida vs. # 6 Miss. State
Game Three - 4:30 p. m. - # 1 South Carolina vs, # 8 Auburn
Game Four - Thirty mins. after game 3 - # 4 Vanderbilt vs. # 5 Georgia
Auburn's Casey McElroy tags out Alabama player during Capital City Classic earlier this season.
Auburn faces their biggest rival this weekend in the final home stand of the year. Anytime Auburn and Alabama get together it's a big deal but this three day series is of particular importance.
Both teams are vying for the Western Division Championship and the two are separated by only one game in the standings with just six conference games remaining.
Auburn has a 26-23, 11-13 SEC record and Alabama is 30-20 overall and 12-12 in the SEC, tied with Arkansas for first place. Auburn will have to catch both teams to repeat as Western Division Champs. The good news is that the Tigers hold the tie breaker over Arkansas having taken two of three from the Hogs earlier in the season.
Auburn also defeated the Tide this year in the Capital City Classic but that game is not counted in the Conference standings.
Nonetheless, if Auburn can take care of business this weekend, they will have an excellent chance to be only the second Auburn Baseball Team in history to repeat as Division Champs. The last time that feat was accomplished was in 1964 - 65.
It is also possible that the Tigers could qualify for the SEC Tournament depending on Auburn's performance and the outcome of games involving Tennessee, LSU, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State.
Friday night's game at Plainsman Park was rained out so there will be a doubleheader Saturday with the first game beginning at noon. The second game will follow about 45 minutes after the first game is over. Sunday's contest starts at 1 p.m.
The Saturday games will be broadcast live on CSS and ESPN3.com. And the starting Tiger pitchers will be Junior Jon Luke Jacobs and ' the Ace,' Junior Derek Varnadore. Let's Go Tigers - Beat Bama!
Update: Tigers Take First Two Games of Final Home Series
Auburn Freshman Dillon Ortman earned the win in the Tigers opening series against Alabama Saturday (7-5) and then picked up the save in the second game (8-7 ). Ortman got the final three outs after entering in the ninth inning following a Jared Reaves home run that had cut the Auburn lead to one run.
It was a typical tough Auburn / Bama fight. Coach John Pawlowski said, "I am really proud of our team today. We competed for 18 innings. It was a long day and it was pretty intense."
The doubleheader sweep against Alabama now gives the Tigers the tie-breaker over four of the SEC Western Division teams. Auburn will be going for the complete series sweep at 1 p.m. Sunday at Plainsman Park.
Let’s Go Big Blue – Beat Bama ... Again!
Update: Auburn Wins Series 2-1(Droped Last game 7-6)
Auburn came within one run of taking over first place in the SEC Western Division race Sunday at Hitchcock Field. The Tigers rallied in the ninth but loss 7-6. Now Auburn sits at 28-24 and in a four way tie for first place with Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi State. Each team has one series left to play. Auburn will play their final against Tennessee next Thursday through Sunday in Knoxville.
by 
6 comments
by 
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
