In today's edition of Auburn Tigers News we look at game results for baseball, softball, and women's basketball and Auburn football's biggest question mark according to Hugh Freeze.
It was a sports-filled weekend for Auburn Tigers fans, with games taking place on Friday across multiple sports. Here is how the Tigers fared to kick off the weekend.
Auburn baseball took on Austin Peay on Friday afternoon and got off to a hot start with five runs in the first two innings. Auburn bats slowed down, however, and Austin Peay evened the score 5-5 by the fifth inning, but a walk-off homerun from Mason Maners sealed the deal and the Tigers won the first game of the series 7-6. The Tigers will look to take game two at 1:00 p.m. this afternoon.
Auburn softball fell to Missouri 5-2 in their SEC opener against the Tigers on the road. Two home runs resulted in five runs for Missouri in the first and fifth innings, and Auburn got zero hits after the fourth inning. Auburn will try to even the series at 2:00 p.m. this afternoon.
Auburn women's basketball ended their SEC tournament run yesterday against the LSU Tigers, falling 78-48 against the reigning national champions. Auburn struggled early on, and dug themselves into a deep hole from which there was no coming back. The Auburn Tigers end their season with a 20-11 record and will hope to hear their names called for the NCAA Tournament on March 17.
Auburn football's biggest question mark according to Hugh Freeze
As Auburn football heads into its second season under head coach Hugh Freeze, he believes the Tigers' biggest question mark heading into the 2024 season is the interior defensive line. Four the biggest producers on the DL — Marcus Harris, Justin Rogers, Mosiah Nasili-Kite, and Lawrence Johnson — parted ways with the Tigers in addition to several of the younger members of the position group.
Two transfers and four freshman signees are on their way into the position group, but Freeze expects the Tigers will look to the portal for extra depth after spring practices.
“I think the biggest question mark we have right now is the interior,” said Freeze, per Auburn Rivals. “The girth on the interior, losing Marcus and Justin and Lawrence. We lost some guys that played significant snaps for us, and two of our most productive ones.”
If the Tigers get more reinforcements from the portal and some of the younger guys take the opportunity to step up and fill those gaps left on the DL, there's every possibility that the position group can be in good shape heading into the 2024 season.