Tag: Brooks Carlson

Season Preview: Auburn Baseball’s top returning hitters from 2022 season

Here’s a look at the top sluggers that return from Auburn Baseball’s 2022 College World Series roster.

The Auburn Tigers are set to open the 2023 season on Friday, Feb. 17 against Indiana at Plainsman Park. While we count down the days, here’s a brief look at what to expect this season.

The first chapter of Auburn Wire’s baseball season previews will take a look at Auburn’s returning hitters from last season’s College World Series roster.

Auburn returns plenty of contributors to last season’s lineup and will see a lot of new faces at the plate as well. However, the caliber of bats that have since moved on to the professional ranks leaves a few questions for Auburn to answer.

The biggest void on this season’s roster is [autotag]Sonny DiChiara[/autotag], who was drafted 148th overall by the Los Angeles Angels and was immediately delegated to Double-A Rocket City. In his lone season on the Plains, DiChiara smashed 22 home runs and was responsible for 59 RBI.

Auburn will also be without [autotag]Blake Rambusch[/autotag], [autotag]Brooks Carlson[/autotag], and [autotag]Brody Moore[/autotag], who finished the season in the top-five of batting average last season behind DiChiara.

There are some familiar faces, however, who will return to the Auburn lineup this season including [autotag]Bobby Peirce[/autotag], [autotag]Cam Hill[/autotag], [autotag]Cole Foster[/autotag], and [autotag]Kason Howell[/autotag], who all hit over .250 last season.

Here’s a look at the top returning bats to Auburn’s roster ahead of the 2023 season, based on last season’s batting average.

Auburn Baseball misses out on top 25 preseason ranking

Despite earning a bid to the College World Series in 2022, Auburn Baseball misses the cut in D1Baseball’s preseason ranking.

The Auburn Tigers had an incredible run to the College World Series in 2022.

Following an early exit from the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Auburn went on a tear through the Auburn Regional by outscoring Southeastern Louisiana, Florida State, and UCLA 51-18 in three games to set up a weekend slate at Oregon State. Auburn was able to knock off the Beavers in the Super Regionals to clinch a berth in the College World Series for the second time in three seasons.

Despite such a strong end to the 2022 season, it seems that Auburn will need to prove its worth to the voters this season.

D1Baseball recently released its preseason top 25 rankings. Nine SEC teams made the cut, with seven of those being placed in the top 10. Out of those nine teams, Auburn was not one of those.

While it is not known why Auburn did not make the preseason top 25, it may be due to the uncertainty surrounding Auburn’s roster. Pitching-wise, the Tigers will look to replace [autotag]Trace Bright[/autotag] and [autotag]Mason Barnett[/autotag] in the rotation and [autotag]Blake Burkhalter[/autotag] in relief. Auburn will also be missing the bats of [autotag]Sonny DiChiara[/autotag], [autotag]Blake Rambusch[/autotag], [autotag]Brooks Carlson[/autotag], and [autotag]Brody Moore[/autotag].

Auburn will need to replace many key pieces of last season’s College World  Series team but is off to a great start as the incoming freshman class ranks No. 10 according to D1Baseball.

Auburn opens the season on Friday, Feb. 17 at Plainsman Park against Indiana. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. CT.

Here’s a look at the initial top 25 from D1Baseball.com.

1 LSU
2 Tennessee
3 Stanford
4 Ole Miss
5 Texas A&M
6 Wake Forest
7 Florida
8 Arkansas
9 Oklahoma State
10 Vanderbilt
11 East Carolina
12 North Carolina
13 Maryland
14 Virginia Tech
15 TCU
16 Louisville
17 UCLA
18 Southern Miss
19 Virginia
20 Alabama
21 NC State
22 Miami
23 South Carolina
24 Texas Tech
25 Oregon

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The foundation to Auburn Baseball’s success is consistency

After a disappointing season in 2021, Auburn Baseball is back on track to continue the successes of the 2018 and 2019 teams.

The Auburn Tigers are the hottest team in college baseball. The Tigers swept the competition at last weekend’s Auburn Regional, outscoring their opponents 51-17 in the process.

Auburn dominated the regional in all three aspects. At the plate, Auburn hit 13 long balls, which included a three-home run game by [autotag]Cole Foster[/autotag] in Friday’s regional opener against Southeastern Louisiana. The confidence at the plate translated to the field, as Auburn only committed one error on the weekend. Pitching was also dominant, as the starting pitcher in two of the three games struck out ten batters a piece.

Some teams catch wind and have luck at certain points through the year. For Auburn, they are starting to see their consistent play throughout the season payoff.

Head coach [autotag]Butch Thompson[/autotag] was quoted as saying “National Championship or bust” following last weekend’s regional win. He says that the team’s consistency has given him trust, as well as the confidence, to make that claim as they head to Oregon State to face the Beavers in this weekend’s Super Regional.

“We got to a certain point in the season where I said I trust this ball club,” said Thompson prior to the team’s departure for Corvallis, Oregon on Thursday. “This is a ball club of consistency. We have never lost more than two games (in a row) over the season. I don’t know if I have had that in my 30 years of coaching, so there’s a model consistency. I have had trust, and now I believe in them.”

The constant play of this team is the product of a solid build up. Prior to the 2020 season that was abruptly ended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Auburn had developed into one of the nation’s best programs.

In 2018. Auburn won the Raleigh Regional in similar fashion to last weekend’s Auburn Regional, and appeared in their first Super Regional since 1999 before falling to SEC foe Florida.

Auburn built off that success in 2019 by appearing in their second-straight Super Regional. The Tigers went on to take two-of-three from North Carolina on the road, and went on to make their first appearance in the College World Series since 1997.

After a season of struggles in 2021, Auburn seems to have found their way back on track to getting to the ultimate goal of being national champion. The player’s energy has rubbed off on Thompson.

 “I feel the chip on their shoulder,” says Thompson. “For those guys to come back last season, a lot of people were like “they are done, they are no good”, and for them to trigger back in, I started feeling it last year.” 

Auburn will spend Friday practicing and adjusting to the climate that the state of Oregon presents, then will lock in and begin the Super Regionals late Saturday night against Oregon State. First pitch between the Tigers and Beavers is set for 9 p.m. CDT.

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