Friday, April 06, 2007

Turnaround time?

Friday was definitely a good day for the Auburn baseball team: AU beat LSU, 6-1, at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge. Not bad at all.

The biggest story of the game was sophomore pitcher Paul Burnside, who threw a complete game (!), allowing just three hits and two walks. That’s a HUGE outing in SEC play. Burnside’s the first Auburn pitcher to throw a complete game since Josh Sullivan did it against VMI in 2005. The last AU pitcher to throw a complete game in the SEC was Arnold Hughey against Alabama in 2004.

I wasn’t on the beat when Hughey threw his complete game, but I remember Sully’s, and as impressive as he was that day, he wasn’t better than Burnside was Friday. I listened to most of the game on the radio, like the good beat writer I am, and I was struck by how many times he got himself out of trouble. He found himself in a few jams—that’s just the way he pitches—but he always got out of it. Of course, he got some help from the defense, but he also came up big in big spots. I’m guessing pitching coach Butch Thompson is going to be using Paul’s outing as an example for the rest of Auburn’s pitchers for a while to come.

In other words, I picked a good weekend to write a Paul Burnside feature. I interviewed him Wednesday about the pressures of being the No. 1 starter, about his opinion of AU’s slow start, and his expectations for the rest of the season. His thoughts on how special it is to be a Friday night guy are a big part of my story, which will appear in Sunday’s Opelika-Auburn News. Check it out.

Anyway, Burnside was obviously the biggest part of Friday’s game, outpitching LSU ace Charlie Furbush. But Auburn’s offense wasn’t too bad either. The Tigers scored all six of their runs off Furbush, including a grand slam by freshman second baseman Robert Brooks. That’s a pretty good first career home run for the rookie, who’s looked good most of the season.

Auburn had five freshmen in Friday’s lineup: Dustin Spruill, Joseph Sanders, Robert Brooks, Ross Smith and Ryan Jenkins. They all batted in a row, with Spruill DHing and batting cleanup and Jenkins catching and hitting eighth. Brooks and Sanders were the only Auburn players with two hits. Every one of the freshmen got on base at least once, and Sanders and Brooks drove in five of Auburn’s six runs.

That’s a good sign for Auburn.

Meanwhile, the softball team lost both games of its doubleheader at Alabama on Sunday. The first game was ugly—a 10-0 loss that ended by mercy rule in the fifth inning. AU kept it competitive in the second game before losing 5-3 in seven innings.