Butch Thompson explains how Nate LaRue has been a catalyst for Auburn baseball's success

The Auburn Tigers are in Omaha for the Men’s College World Series and it’s thanks, in part, to junior catcher Nate LaRue. Auburn head coach Butch Thompson praised LaRue for the transformation in his game this season which has been a catalyst in the team’s success.

“The receiving of the baseball and making decisions at the moment is where it’s really grown,” Thompson said this week. “His in-tuneness with Tim (Hudson) and with the game and with the pitchers has continued to grow. It’s at another level and it showed up at game time.”

“He’s grown weekly,” Thompson continued. “I just don’t think you’re a team that can sincerely be competitive at this stage without a great catcher. He’s been amazing. He’s gotten better and he keeps getting better. The arm has always been there.

“Nate LaRue’s impact defensively, his arm absolutely can impact a baseball game.”

The Rebels don’t attempt many steals but LaRue’s arm could factor in during the series nonetheless. The catcher is batting .224 with six home runs and 34 runs batted in this season.

Auburn takes on SEC foe Ole Miss to open up College World Series. First pitch is at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday in Omaha. The last time the Tigers faced the Rebels, they dropped the three-game series 2-1. The two teams combined for 60 runs over those three days in March.

Thompson discusses Auburn’s ‘No Excuses’ mantra

After repeatedly overcoming the odds with head coach Butch Thompson’s ‘No Excuses’ mantra in the regular season and postseason, it served them well once again versus Oregon State.

During his pre-Omaha press conference, Thompson discussed the way Auburn embraced the ‘No Excuses’ mentality despite a number of factors that could easily rattle a team in their position.

“Yeah, we’ve got to go figure out a new setup,” said Thompson. “We had to go 2,000 miles away last week to figure out a setup of travel, of turf field, turf mounds, weather – all those elements. Facing the best pitcher we faced the entire season, an amazing program that had never lost Super Regional that they hosted at home, and it was their seventh. But we just kind of wash that off of us. We came home, we used last night to get back home and wash clothes, and we got back out here in the wight room today like we needed to, got some swings in. And now we’ve got to start figuring out what’re these new challenges of this new setup.

“The guys have done an amazing job with the no excuses. We haven’t thrown a whole lot at them. We’ve thrown a couple simple principles that they’ve absolutely tried to dominate, so they’ve done a great job with simplicity. Just constant routine and simplicity and I think that’s been a key.”

On3’s James Fletcher contributed to this report.