Auburn Baseball Has Chance to Pick Up Impressive Wins in Cox Diamond Invitational

The Auburn baseball team (6-3) will head to Pensacola, Fla. this weekend for the Cox Diamond Invitational where they’ll have the chance to pick up some quality wins over Troy, Michigan State and Southern Miss.

Those three teams come into this weekend with a combined record of 20-5, with the Spartans still perfect at 6-0 on the season.

After a shaky start, Auburn has won five of its last six games, including a couple of wins over Alabama A&M this week. On Tuesday Cody Nulph picked up 5 RBIs in a 15-1 win, and then on Wednesday Andrew Mitchell tossed 6 shutout innings, while only giving up 1 hit with 8 strikeouts in a 5-0 victory.

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The Tigers will begin the weekend against Troy (7-3) on Friday night at 6 p.m. CT. The Trojans have lost three in a row after starting the season 7-0. They lost on Tuesday this week to Alabama 2-1, then were shutout by UAB 7-0 on Wednesday.

Matt Sanders leads the team offensively with a .350 average and 7 runs scored. As a team the Trojans are hitting .246 collectively, and are averaging just over 4 runs a game.

The pitching has been dominant for Troy early with a combined team ERA of 2.15 ERA in 10 games. Lucas Brown leads the staff with a 0.60 ERA in two starts, but the Tigers will most likely see Grant Bennett who is 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 13 innings.

On Saturday Auburn will wake up early to take on Michigan State at 11 a.m. CT. The Spartans are unblemished to start the season as they continue to travel around the South, while it snows back home. Michigan State won 34 games a year ago, but still failed to make the playoffs.

Cam Vieaux is the team’s top starting pitcher with a 1.59 ERA in 11.1 innings with10 strikeouts after posting a 3.49 ERA in 90.1 innings last year with 71 strikeouts.

Alex Troop is hitting .476 through the first six games of the season, while Brandon Hughes leads the team with 9 RBIs, and Jordan Zimmerman leads the team with 10 runs scored.

Then Auburn finishes the weekend on Sunday at 3 p.m. CT against a Southern Miss squad that – like Troy – started the season 7-0, but has dropped their past two games.

Tim Lynch is leading the Golden Eagles with a .421 average, while Taylor Braley leads the team with 5 home runs and 12 RBIs.

On the mound Cord Cockrell (1-0, 2.25 ERA, 10 Ks) and Jake Winston (1-0, 2.70 ERA, 7 Ks) are leading the Southern Miss pitching staff. Most likely Auburn will avoid facing either of them, which will be a good thing.

As for the Tigers, Anfernee Grier has been phenomenal through the first nine games of the season with a .486 average and 16 runs scored. Niko Buentello has been great as well with a .389 average, 3 home runs and 20 RBIs.

For unknown reasons Butch Thompson elected to not let Cole Lipscomb pitch in the Southern series, but he did pitch Tuesday night. We’ll see if he’s inserted back into the rotation this weekend. Justin Camp may become the new Friday night starter after two excellent starts this year. He has a 1.29 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 14 innings pitched.

While all of the teams in this tournament are very good, Auburn should be the favorite in all three games. They at least need to pick up two wins this weekend, and if they get three we’ll call it a great trip for Auburn baseball.

Weekend Schedule – Auburn (6-3):

Friday – vs. Troy – 6 p.m. – Pensacola, Fla (L, 4-3, 11 innings)

Probable Starters: Grant Bennett (2-0, 1.38 ERA, 15 Ks) vs. Justin Camp (1-0, 1.29 ERA, 15 Ks)

Saturday – vs. Michigan State – 11 a.m. CT – Pensacola, Fla. (L, 3-0)

Probable Starters: Ethan Landon (0-0, 3.72 ERA, 1 Ks) vs. Cole Lipscomb (1-0, 2.57 ERA, 4 Ks)

Sunday – vs. Southern Miss – 3 p.m. CT – Pensacola, Fla.

Probable Starters: TBD vs TBD

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