What Butch Thompson said ahead of Auburn traveling to No. 3 Florida
AUBURN — For their hardest matchup so far this season, Auburn will travel to Gainesville to compete against No. 3 Florida in a three-game series.
The Tigers are coming off a run-rule win against North Alabama on Tuesday night. This past weekend, Auburn defeated Georgia in the first two games but failed to sweep on Saturday. This team is now 17-7-1 on the season, including 2-4 in the conference.
Florida, on the other hand, is currently 5-1 in SEC play, losing just one game to Alabama in their opening series and sweeping Ole Miss in Oxford this past weekend.
Friday and Saturday’s games will begin at 5:30 p.m. CT and Sunday’s first pitch will be at noon.
Here is everything Butch Thompson said before traveling to Gainesville.
— “Tuesday night’s lineup was exciting for us. It’s kind of how we envisioned it.” Thompson talked about being able to have Cooper McMurray and Bobby Peirce back in the field and the impact they should be able to have this weekend.
— “This will be a weekend that we want to try something different” in regards to pitching. “We’re going to start Will Cannon in game one… John Armstrong, who we’ve used a ton. I think somehow he’s fallen into a 5-0 record, but he’ll get the second start. Then (Tommy) Vail, who has started game one… He’ll go Sunday for us.”
— Thompson talked about the importance of Auburn’s relief pitchers, mentioning Tanner Bauman, Chase Allsup and Christian Herberholz. “There’s three guys behind (the starters), which creates six (solid pitchers).”
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— “Bryson Ware has had an amazing year. I think he’s one of the best players in the country.” Talked about his amazing story is this season.
— When asked about the chance of Ike Irish catching this weekend: “I thought he did a nice job (last weekend)… Now, I don’t think the alarm, bell is ringing for that to be part of the deal.. He’s bouncing around, ready to hit. I think you’ll see more of a (Nate) LaRue, (Carter) Wright, if not both, this weekend…”
— “If (Kason) Howell and McMurray are near the end of that lineup, it’s pretty exciting.” Thompson emphasized the importance of needing strength farther down the lineup.
— Auburn is one of five SEC teams that has recorded over 60 wins since the start of 2022. “I want our program to act like that.” Thompson later said, “I don’t want all of these new players to sell our program short or to sell their skills short.” Butch Thompson talked about the tough schedule ahead and the importance behind this program finding their identity.
