Tigers Practice and Wait for NCAA Tournament Selection 

May 24, 2005
 
AUBURN - After finishing the season with a record of 32-24, 13-17 SEC, and in a three-way tie for eighth in the SEC Tournament race, the Auburn baseball team remains on the field in anticipation of receiving an NCAA Tournament berth when the field of 64 is announced on Monday, May 30.

* According to the website www.WarrenNolan.com the Tigers have an RPI of 16 and have played 17 games (9-8) against top-20 RPI teams. The Tigers have also played the top-ranked strength of schedule in the country as AU's opponents, which includes nine teams currently ranked in top-25 polls (Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia Tech, LSU, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Tennessee), had a cumulative .623 winning percentage. Overall, AU played 29 games against top-30 RPI teams, eight of which were non-conference games.

* The Tigers were 14-18 against teams ranked in the top-25 polls when they played them and were 11-15 against current top-25 teams. Auburn's 32 games against ranked opponents leads the SEC and its 14 victories versus ranked teams tied for most in the league. Auburn won series at #3 LSU, vs. #7 Arkansas, vs. #18 Ole Miss and vs. #24 Clemson and split its series with #3 Georgia Tech, winning at Tech's Russ Chandler Stadium where the Yellow Jackets were 26-8 on the year. The Tigers also defeated Atlantic Sun Champion Troy at Riddle-Pace Field, where the Trojans went 21-5.

* Auburn tied with Arkansas and Vanderbilt for eighth in the SEC but did not qualify for the league tournament by virtue of the SEC's three-team tie-breaking rule. Auburn went 2-1 vs. Arkansas to finish ahead of the Razorbacks in the SEC West and went 8-7 against the entire SEC West, finishing fifth in the division. Auburn did not play Vanderbilt, the other team in the three-way tie.

* The Tigers played 20 one-run games this year, second-most in the country, and won 14 of them, also the second-best total in the country.

* Auburn finished the season 11-10 on the road with wins at nationally-ranked opponents Florida State, Georgia Tech, LSU (2), Mississippi State and South Carolina.

* RHP John Madden finished the regular season with a 1.64 ERA, which was first in the SEC and in the top-10 in the nation. His record of 6-2 with 7 saves in 41 appearances shows that he figured into almost half of Auburn's victories. Of the 69 hits he allowed this season, only six of them were for extra bases.

* RHP Michael Nix closed out the regular season with 13 saves, the third-highest single-season saves by an Auburn pitcher in school history. Combined with his 5 wins, Nix figured into 18 of Auburn's victories, more than half of the team total. His 56 strikeouts was third on the team and gave him a 9.11 K/game mark, the highest ratio on the team.

* 1B Karl Amonite finished the regular season leading the team in batting average (.361), 2B (25), RBI (57), slugging percentage (.634), walks (40) and on-base percentage (.466). His 10 home runs puts him one behind C Josh Bell for the team lead.

* Madden, Bell and OF Clete Thomas were all named to the conference's All-SEC teams while Amonite, Bell, Nix and Thomas were each recognized by SEBaseball.com as all-conference selections.