Tag: Mason Barnett

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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Look: Auburn wins regional in dominant fashion

Auburn was unstoppable in their games.

For the third time in the past five seasons, Auburn is heading to the super regionals.

The Tigers beat UCLA 11-4 Monday afternoon to complete a dominant weekend that saw Auburn outscore its opponents 51-18 and never trail.

The celebration was delayed after a weather delay forced the game to be paused with Auburn up 9-0 in the sixth inning. The delay forced starter [autotag]Mason Barnett[/autotag] out of the game. He pitched 5.1 shutout innings, allowing just one hit, three walks, and striking out 10 Bruins.

The Auburn offense pounced on UCLA starter James Hepp to start the game. The first four Tigers reached with [autotag]Sonny DiChiara[/autotag] and Brooks Carlson each driving in a run to give Auburn the 2-0 lead.

Auburn added on in the fourth when DiChiara singled up the middle to score Nate LaRue and Blake Rambusch and stretch the lead to 4-0.

[autotag] Brody Moore[/autotag], the Regional MVP, led the fifth inning off with a home run and the Tigers scored three runs in the sixth to pull away from UCLA.

Here are the best photos from Auburn’s victory.

Tigers fall in game one against Kentucky

The Tigers dropped game one of their doubleheader against the Wildcats by a score of 5-1.

After having to reschedule game one of the series due to weather, the Tigers were tasked with playing two games on Friday. Game one between Auburn and Kentucky began at 1 CT. The Tigers starting pitcher was Mason Barnett while the Wildcats starting pitcher was Zack Lee.

It didn’t take long for the home team to scratch across a run. In the bottom half of the first inning, third baseman Chase Estep sent a double into left-center field to bring across second baseman Daniel Harris. After one inning of play, the Wildcats led 1-0.

The Tigers were unable to muster any runs in the first two innings. Unlike Auburn, the Wildcats were able to push across yet another run in the bottom half of the second inning. After right-fielder Adam Fogel reached base earlier in the inning, center-fielder John Thrasher was able to lay down a bunt single to bring Fogel across. After two innings of play in Lexington, the Wildcats led 2-0.

It was a rough day for starting pitcher [autotag]Mason Barnett[/autotag] to say the least. He gave up five hits and four runs in 3.1 innings. The bullpen was able to ease the damage though. Relief pitchers John Armstrong, Tommy Sheehan, and Chase Isbell struck out a combined six batters while allowing just four hits.

In the bottom half of the fourth inning, the Wildcats scored two more runs off of Burnett. An RBI single off the bat of Devin Burkes brought across designated hitter Oraj Anu. Two batters later and it was Thrasher that delivered with a double to plate Burkes. After four innings in the Bluegrass State, the Wildcats led by a score of 4-0.

Finally, in the sixth inning, the Tigers scratched across a run. Second baseman [autotag]Garrett Farquhar[/autotag] delivered with an RBI double to score center-fielder Kason Howell. However, that was the lone run of the first game for the Tigers on Friday afternoon.

The Wildcats scratched across one more run in the bottom half of the sixth inning. The game ended in a Wildcats victory as the Tigers went three-up-three-down in the ninth. The Tigers are set to return to the diamond for game two of the three-game series later Friday evening. The first pitch for the second game was scheduled for 5:00 CT. The game will be aired on SEC Network +.

 

Mason Barnett named in D1 Baseball’s top 100 players

Mason Barnett is slated for a big season for Auburn baseball.

Auburn pitcher Mason Barnett is expected to have a big 2021 college baseball season on The Plains.

D1 Baseball put out their 2022 Top 100 Draft Prospects and they ranked Barnett as the 36th best college baseball player entering the season.

I reached out to Lindsay Crosby who covers Auburn Baseball for NewsTalk WANI and the “Locked On Auburn” podcast for a scouting report.

Here’s what he said about the exciting pitcher.

Barnett is a 6-1, 205lb junior. The righthander features four pitches with two distinct breaking balls and a fastball that sits 92-94 and can reach 96. His 12-6 curveball is a plus pitch in the mid-70s that he uses to steal strikes early in the count, while his slider is a tight spinning breaker that he throws at 79-83 as a putaway pitch. His physical build is stout with a long arm action, but his occasional command issues and predominate fastball usage may relegate him to a reliever at the MLB level without further refinement.

Barnett is expected to be a key piece for Butch Thompson’s Auburn Tigers this season.

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Auburn returns to Plainsman Park for final non-conference series

Auburn will close its weekend non-conference schedule with a three-game series against Arkansas Little Rock at Plainsman Park.  

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Auburn will close its weekend non-conference schedule with a three-game series against Arkansas-Little Rock at Plainsman Park.  

Auburn is coming off of a 6-5 win over UAB on Wednesday and will be looking to keep the offence rolling in their first ever matchup with the Trojans, who have won four of their last five games to improve to 5-5 on the season.

The Tigers lead the nation in runs scored (121), is one of just three teams to have seven players with multiple home runs and ranks in the top 10 nationally in eight other offensive categories.

Leading the charge for Auburn has been junior Tyler Miller. The first baseman has been a revelation for the Tigers leading them in hits (18), home runs (3), RBI (18), and ranking top 5 in batting average, OPS, runs and slugging.

Miller admitted he got off to a slow start in 2020 but was unable to break out of the slump due to the season being cancelled. He said he settled in against Alabama A&M.

“Ever since then I’ve just been seeing it well, swinging at the right balls – swinging at strikes mainly, not balls – and when I swing at it, I’m not missing it,” Miller said. “Seeing ‘em fall is a lot better than not seeing ‘em fall.”

The offences hot start has been important as the Tigers will turn to their fourth different weekend rotation through four weeks.

The Tigers will get back one of their original weekend starters back in senior right-hander Cody Greenhill (1-0, 2.89), who is expected to be back in his role as the Friday night starter for the Tigers after missing last week with a foot injury.

However, they will be without Richard Fitts and Jack Owen. Fitts is battling the same injury as Greenhill and could return for the series with Ole Miss to open SEC play next weekend. Owen could also return for that series as well.

Auburn will instead turn to two righthanders in Mason Barnett (1-0, 0.84) and Trace Bright (2-0, 1.12).   

Barnett will be making his third start and besides from walking eight batters has done a great job shutting down opposing offences. Allowing just two runs in 10.2 innings and has shown why he was the likely closer before injuries forced him to slide into a starting role.

Bright has also shined as a sophomore, allowing just three runs in 16 innings of work and striking out 13 batters to just three walks. He also had perhaps the best start of an Auburn pitcher against Texas A&M, throwing six shutout innings in their 6-1 victory.

The group will go up against a red-hot Little Rock offense that scored 19 runs in their last two games and is hitting .278 as a team. The offence is led by John Michael Russ who is hitting .500 on the year.

Little Rock is expected to send a trio of veterans to the mound in seniors Aaron Funk (0-1, 5.68) and Hayden Arnold (1-1, 8.49) and redshirt junior Jack DeCooman (0-1, 4.15).

Auburn games on Friday and Sunday’s will be on SECN+/ESPN+ and Saturday’s game will air on SEC Network while. Games will be 4 p.m. CT Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.