Auburn Baseball vs Arkansas Series Preview
AUBURN (31-22, 11-16) AT #12 ARKANSAS (35-18, 17-10)
MAY 21-23, 2004 * 7, 7, 12:30 P.M.
BAUM STADIUM (9,477) * FAYETTEVILLE, AR
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TELEVISION: None of the games will be televised.
RADIO: The games will air on the Auburn Network's 21 affiliates, including locally on WQNR (99.9 FM). Rod Bramblett and Andy Burcham will call the action.
INTERNET: Live audio at www.auburntigers.com.
SERIES: Auburn leads the all-time seires, 27-17, with the two teams spliting 18 games played in Fayetteville. The Razorbacks have won the last two series including five of the last seven meetings.
RANKINGS: Auburn is not ranked. Arkansas is ranked 12th by Baseball America, 15th by both Collegiate Baseball and the NCBWA and 19th according to Sports Weekly.
COACHES: Steve Renfroe (Auburn, 1982) has a 144-90 mark in his fourth year as head coach of the Auburn Tigers. Renfroe is 5-5 all-time against Arkansas. Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn (Arkansas, 1988) has a 70-40 mark in his second year in Fayetteville and a 655-289 record in his 16th season as a head coach.
NOTABLES
The Tigers enter the weekend a game behind Tennessee for the eighth seed in the SEC Tournament ... Five teams, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Auburn, Alabama and Mississippi State are all vying for the two final spots in the conference tournament ... Dating back to last season, the Tigers are 8-3 in road series, including a 6-3 mark in SEC series. ... Auburn (6-3) and LSU (7-2) are the only SEC teams to win at least three conference road series in the last two years ... Auburn's 4-3 last at-bat win over Georgia on Sunday was the Tigers' 12th one-run victory of the season, which tied a school-record * The win was Auburn's 15th come-from-behind victory and seventh last at-bat win in league play * For the second consecutive SEC series, OF Clete Thomas tallied a double, triple and home run during the weekend * Thomas' six triples are tied for the eighth most in the school's single-season record book * Cory Dueitt made his 106th career appearance on Tuesday and is two outings shy of tying the school record of 108 held by Colter Bean * Tug Hulett had his 12-game hitting streak snapped on Saturday * It was the longest hitting streak by an Auburn player this season ... So. RHP Chris Dennis has allowed one ER in his last seven outings (0.73 ERA, 12.1 IP).
PITCHING ROTATION
W-L ERA G/GS IP H R ER BB SO
FRIDAY, MAY 21, 7 P.M.
Arnold Hughey, Jr., LHP, AU 6-4 4.42 15/15 91.2 98 52 45 21 77
Clint Brannon, LHP, UA 3-2 3.28 15/14 74.0 77 48 27 22 55
SATURDAY, MAY 22, 7 P.M.
Steven Register, Jr., RHP, AU 6-0 3.78 21/2 50.0 46 22 21 14 49
Charley Boyce, RHP, UA 7-1 3.18 15/14 79.1 87 33 28 14 57
SUNDAY, MAY 23, 12:30 P.M.
Auburn, TBA ----- ---- ---/--- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Arkansas, TBA ----- ---- ---/--- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
AUBURN-ARKANSAS NOTES
Arkansas has won the last two series over the Tigers, taking two of three in Fayetteville in 2002 and in Auburn last season ... In the 2002 series, Auburn clinched a SEC Tournament berth on Saturday in a 7-3 11-inning victory, while the Razorbacks punched their ticket to Hoover with a 4-1 Sunday victory ... Auburn swept Arkansas in 2000 and 2001, scoring 10 or more runs in all six games ... The 2000 series at Baum Stadium saw the Tigers tally 42 runs including 21 in the series finale ... Only one of the last 15 games in the series has been decided by two runs or less ... Auburn is 3-0 all-time in extra innings in the series ... The Tigers won a 3-1 17 inning contest over the Razorbacks in the 1994 SEC Tournament in Oxford, Miss. ... There were a combined 41 strikeouts in the game as the Auburn batters fanned a school-record 16 times while the pitchers collected a school-best 25 strikeouts.
GEORGIA SERIES RECAP
The Tigers dropped two of three at home to Georgia last weekend ... It was the Bulldogs first series win on the Plains since 1989 ... Auburn won Sunday's finale, 4-3, with a pair of runs in the eighth inning ... It was the Tigers' school-record tying 12th one-run victory of the year, seventh SEC final at-bat victory and 15th come-from-behind win ... Derek Sain led the Tigers' offensively, hitting .364 (4-for-11) ... For the second consecutive series, Clete Thomas tallied a double, triple, and homer ... Thomas drove home four of the Tigers' six runs on the weekend.
HOW TO GET TO HOOVER
The Tigers are currently in ninth place in the SEC seedings, one game behind Tennessee for the eighth and final slot in the SEC Tournament. While several senarios remain for the Tigers to get into the tournament, the most likely is for the Tigers to win at least one more game than Tennessee this weekend. The Tigers own the tie-breaker over the Volunteers. It is possible, however for the Tigers to win one more game than UT and not make the tournament. That would occur of Auburn won once in Fayetteville, Tennessee was swept at home by Florida and if Mississippi State or Alabama (both 10-18) swept one another. Auburn owns the tie-breaker over Alabama while Mississippi State owns the tie-breaker over the Tigers.
LAST SEC SERIES FLASHBACK, 2001
Auburn traveled to seventh-ranked LSU in legendary Fighting Tigers' head coach Skip Bertman's last SEC home series. A game ahead of Alabama for the eighth and final spot in the SEC Tournament, Auburn was trounced on Friday night, 20-5, before posting Auburn produced two late come-from-behind victories to earn a berth in the league tournament. Alabama swept Arkansas and both schools finished 15-15, however, a Auburn sweep of the Crimson Tide earlier in the season gave the Tigers the tie-breaker and a spot as the No. 8 seed.
Trailing 5-1 with two outs in the eighth inning of Saturday's contest, nine consecutive batters reached base as Auburn scored six runs in the inning en route to a 7-5 victory. Needing a win to clinch a berth in the SEC Tournament on Sunday, the Tigers scored five runs in the top of the ninth inning to rally from a 6-4 deficit to defeat LSU, 9-7. The series victory over LSU was Auburn's first over the Fighting Tigers since 1998 and the first in Baton Rouge since 1995.
Other series notables: Mailon Kent's solo home run in the eighth inning of Sunday's game was his 300th career hit, making him just the 13th SEC player with 300 or more career base hits ... Freshman reliever Eric Brandon picked up Saturday and Sunday's victories in relief, allowing one run in 4.2 innings ... Auburn overcame a 0-9 start in SEC play and went 15-6 down the stretch.
TWO OF THREE
Auburn head coach Steve Renfroe, Georgia coach David Perno and Arkansas' Dave Van Horn share a special bond as the three are the only SEC head coaches to have played and served as an assistant and head coach at their alma mater.
Renfroe played at Auburn from 1977-80 and was an assistant on the Plains from 1981-2000. Perno played at Georgia in 1988, '90-91 and served as an assistant from 1996-2001. Van Horn, meanwhile, played at Arkansas in 1982 and was an assistant in Fayetteville from 1985-88.
ROAD SUCCESS
Auburn has won four of its five road series this season, taking two of three at Clemson, Tennessee, Ole Miss and Alabama. The Tigers were swept at Florida, April 30-May 2.
Dating back to last season, the Tigers are 8-3 in road series, including a 6-3 mark in SEC series. The 6-3 mark in league road series in the second-best mark to LSU's 7-2. Auburn and LSU are the only SEC teams to win at least three conference road series in the last two years.
30 WINS IN 21 CONSECUTIVE SEASONS
The Tigers' 12-9 win over South Carolina on May 7 was their 30th of the season, marking the 21st consecutive season that Auburn has won 30 or more games. That mark ties LSU for the second longest such streak in the SEC. With 31 wins this season, Mississippi State has posted an SEC-best 22 straight years of 30 or more victories. LSU has 38 wins this season.
THE GRADUATES
Auburn senior pitchers Colby Paxton and Jim Miksis will receive their diploma from Auburn this semester as Paxton received a degree in Finance, while Miksis was awarded a degree in Wildlife Management.
DENNIS THE MENACE
Sophomore RHP Chris Dennis has been the Tigers' hotest pitch during the last month. The Madison, Ala., native has a 0.73 ERA in his last seven outings spanning 12.1 IP. In the Tigers Sunday win over Georgia last weekend, Dennis struck out the final six Georgia batters to picked up a win in relief (3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, BB, 6 SO).
In SEC action, Dennis has a team-leading 3.18 EAR with a 2-0 mark in 10 appearances (17 IP) with one save. Remarkably, Dennis has allowed just one home run in his Auburn career in 80 innings while facing 337 batters.
HULETT, GAMBLE REBOUND IN APRIL
After slow starts through the first two months of the season, juniors Tug Hulett and Sean Gamble heated up offensively in the month of April. In the first two months of the season, Hulett and Gamble were hitting .260 and .229, respectively, which was 113 and 71 points below their 2003 averages. The duo each had their best months of the 2004 season in April, as Gamble posted a .347 (26-for-75), while Hulett hit .344 (22-for-64). In April, Hulett raised his average to .293 (33 points), while Gamble's made a 61 point increase to .280.
HOMER HAPPY CHUCK
Six of SS Chuck Jeroloman's career-best eight home runs this season have come in Southeastern Conference action. In the last five years, only three Tigers have hit more homers in SEC play. That list includes: Karl Amonite (8, 2003), Todd Faulkner (10, 2000) and Gabe Gross (9, 2001 & 6, 2000).
TWO-WAY BELL
Auburn sophomore Josh Bell is one of three Tigers since 1996 to be a two-way player, handling both pitching and batting choirs. Former Tigers Tim Hudson (1996-97) and Hayden Gliemmo (1998-01) were also two-way players for Auburn.
Bell is currently hitting .274 with a team-leading 10 home runs and 44 RBI. On the mound, the Jackson, Tenn., native is 3-3 with a 4.44 ERA in 48.2 innings. Bell was the Tigers' Sunday starter for the first six weeks of SEC play before making two Friday starts the last two weekends.
Hudson, a current member of the Oakland Athletics, was the 1997 Rotary Smith Award winner after hitting .396 with 18 home runs and 95 RBI while posting a 15-2 mark and a 2.97 ERA on the hill. In two years at Auburn, Hudson hit .379 with 21 HR, 102 RBI and tallied a 20-5 mark on the mound with a 3.08 ERA and 255 strikeouts in 193 IP. Gliemmo was 24-5 as a pitcher with a 4.24 ERA in four years, while hitting .292 in 360 career at-bats.
AGAINST THE RANKED
The Tigers are 13-12 against ranked teams this year and are 31-22 over the last two years against ranked opponents. Auburn, which has played nine of its last 10 games (2-7) against ranked teams, will play its 26th, 27th, and 28th games of the season against ranked foes this weekend versus No. 12 Arkansas.
ONE RUN AFFAIRS AND QUICK STARTS
The Tigers are 12-8 in one-run games this season and are 24-14 in their last 38 games decided by a run dating back to the 2002 season. The 12 wins tied a school record for most one run wins in a season previously set in 1967 and 1981.
Auburn has scored in the first inning 15 times this season and has a 12-3 record in those games. In fact, Auburn is 21-5 this season when scoring first.
CAREER-RECORDS UPDATE
RHP Cory Dueitt is second all-time at Auburn in games pitched with 106 appearances ... and games relieved with 88 ... Colter Bean (1997-00) is Auburn's career leader in games pitched (108) and relief appearances (106) ... Dueitt is fifth on the SEC's all-time appearance list ... RHP Colby Paxton's 49 career games started is tied for 7th with Chris Bootcheck and two shy of Levale Speigner for 6th ... Steven Register's 25 saves is second on the AU career list and four behind school-record holder Finley Woodward's 29 ... Register is tied for sixth with Florida's John Pritchard on the SEC career saves chart, one behind Georgia's Alex Barylak for fifth ... Register is fifth at Auburn in games relieved, one behind Finley Woodward (1995-96) for fourth.
FREE BASEBALL
The 2004 season has offered Auburn fans plenty of free baseball as the Tigers have played six extra-inning contests, including a 13-inning affair on April 24 against Mississippi State. Auburn is 3-3 in extra innings this season, which is the most by an Auburn team since 1987. The school record for most extra-inning games in a season is eight in 1982. The Tigers played in seven in 1981.
FLAIR FOR THE DRAMATIC
Auburn has had a flair for the dramatic finish this season, tallying five walk-off wins and four last-at bat win. Three of the Tigers' SEC wins have been in walk-off fashion.
In the SEC Sunday opener against Kentucky, J.T. Williamson's bases loaded walk-off single with two outs lifted the Tigers to a 3-2 win over the Wildcats. On April 2, Josh Bell doubled home Chuck Jeroloman from first in the bottom of the 10th inning for a 7-6 win over No. 2 LSU in the Friday opener. Last Sunday, Auburn rallied from a 5-2 deficit scoring four runs in the ninth to defeated Miss. State, 6-5. Sean Gamble's single through the left side scored Tug Hulett from third base with the winning run.
CLOSE KNIT
Auburn junior second baseman Tug Hulett and junior shortstop Chuck Jeroloman have established a close relationship since arriving at Auburn in 2002. Both were roommates as freshmen and sophomores, both played on the same summer league teams in 2002 and 2003, and both have started next to each other in 165 of 174 games at Auburn. Including two seasons of summer ball, Hulett and Jeroloman have played 234 games together.
NEW THREADS IN '04
Auburn will don new alternate home uniforms this season with a New York Yankees look as the Tigers will wear white uniforms with navy pinstripes. The uniforms will feature a navy AU block logo on the left chest with numbers and no names on the back. Auburn's caps will be navy with white AU block lettering above the bill.
IN MEMORY OF W. JAMES SAMFORD
Auburn will wear a navy patch this season on its white and pinstripe uniforms with the initials "JS" on its right sleeves in memory of W. James "Jimmy" Samford, Jr., who passed away in December at the age of 53. Samford served on the Auburn Board of Trustees from 1987-2003 and spearheaded the efforts for construction of Samford Stadium-Hitchcock Field at Plainsman Park. The stadium was named after Samford last May.
NEW DIGS, NEW SURFACE
During the off-season, two projects were completed at Plainsman Park including a new surface on Hitchcock Field and a state-of-the-art Strength and Rehabilitation Center adjacent to Samford Stadium. The playing surface, which included the addition of a drainage system below the surface was completed in August. The Strength and Rehabilitation Center is a two-story, 13,274 square foot facility that houses a weight room for the baseball team on the first floor and a rehabilitation and research center on the second floor. The weight room is unrivaled in collegiate baseball and features nearly 50 pieces of equipment including 10 sets of multi-purpose power lift half racks, PowerBlock dumbbells, and cardiovascular machines. The facility also has its own lockerroom. The second floor of the Strength and Rehabilitation Center is occupied by HealthSouth and the Alabama Sports Medicine Institute, led by world-renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews. The project broke ground on October 25, 2002 at a construction cost of $2,502,380.
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