SEC Tournament preview: Auburn takes on Alabama with stakes that couldn't be higher
Auburn's loss to Vanderbilt last night officially wrapped up at 12:17 AM Central, and now that they're in the losers bracket, the next game is around twelve hours later with a midday start against Alabama at the Hoover Met.
Any athletic competition between Auburn and Alabama is already high stakes, given how everything in the state revolves around the two schools and their rivalry, but this one has unique stakes: It's an elimination game from the SEC Tournament, and Auburn's narrowly slotted above Alabama in the hosting conversation for the Field of 64.
Auburn went 17-13 in conference in the regular season and finished with an RPI of 16 - in the last decade, no SEC team has had 17 conference wins and an RPI of 17 or better and NOT hosted a regional.
But right behind Auburn is Alabama, with 16 conference wins, the head-to-head tiebreaker over Auburn by virtue of winning the regular season series, and an RPI of 11.
D1Baseball.com as of now has Auburn seizing the SEC's 5th hosting spot, as the #10 Regional, paired with Vanderbilt (7), while Alabama (11) is right behind them and paired with Stanford (6).
And the players understand how important this matchup is, for multiple reasons:
Said Chase Allsup last night after the Vanderbilt loss: "I feel like it's a big day for all of us. I mean, Kason (Howell), it might be the last time he ever plays Alabama, and all of our seniors. I felt like that last series with them kind of put a bad taste in our mouth."
Auburn won the opener of that series, 8-4, before dropping the next two games by 4-2 and 6-1 scores.
And per Auburn's game notes, these two teams don't have a lot of history in Hoover, with the two teams only matching up four times since the tournament permanently move there in 1998 and Alabama winning all four games. It's been ten years since they last faced off in Hoover, with Auburn dropping a 6-3 matchup to the Crimson Tide in 2013.
Pitching Matchup for Auburn vs Alabama in the SEC Tournament
Auburn is sending senior LHP Konner Copeland (4-1, 7.18 ERA) to the mound, facing off against senior RHP Garrett McMillan (3-2, 3.90 ERA). McMillan started and got the win in game two of the regular season series, going five innings with one hit and four strikeouts as Alabama jumped out to an early 4-0 lead and held on to win, 4-2. Copeland did not pitch in the series.
How to Watch Auburn vs Alabama in the SEC Tournament
First pitch is expected to be at 1:00 PM; it's officially 30 minutes after the conclusion of #6 South Carolina vs #10 Texas A&M, which is slated to start at 9:30 AM. The game is being broadcast on SEC Network, and the radio call with "Voice of the Tigers" Andy Burcham and Brad Law is available on 93.9FM, AuburnTigers.com, and the Auburn Athletics App.
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