Coffee and Magnolia: 29 May 2015

SOFTBALL

Well, dang it, that didn't go the way we hoped, did it? Auburn dropped the first game of the WCWS 6-1 to LSU, yesterday. They'll now face Tennessee on Saturday morning in an elimination game.

The Tigers took a hit with the loss, but they're still in it, as Coach Clint Myers put it. It will require four straight victories to make it to the Championship Series, though. Things reset in that best of 3, but the Tigers can't lose again before they get there. That means defeating Tennessee on Saturday, the loser of UF/LSU, then the winner of UF/LSU twice. It will be a tall order, but this team is capable of doing it.

BASEBALL

The baseball team begins their road to the College World Series today in Tallahassee against College of Charleston. If you haven't already seen it, Tuco previewed them a few days back.

Auburn knows that they're not going to win any games with home run hitting. No one on the Auburn squad has more than a few home runs. The Tigers are good at extra-bases hits, though. And when the small ball stuff works, it can get runs across.

You can check out all of the information you need to see the game here.

GOLF

The men's team begins play in the NCAA Championships early this morning. And I do mean early.

FOOTBALL

Two of Auburn's early season games now have times and TV channels attached to them! Well, channel singular. They're both going to be on CBS. And I guess time is singular, too, since they're both 2:30pm CDT games.

Chadd Scott put together an SEC "Half Decade" team. Only three Tigers made his list. It's kind of hard to argue with that, honestly. Each of those three really only had one brilliant season during that time. Not many Tigers have put together consistent careers worthy of being "All SEC" at their position.

Auburn is expecting a lot out of Michigan transfer Blake Countess. He should be able to provide immediate quality depth and likely a lot of playing time at a position that's desperate for both.

Auburn is mentioned in ESPN's feature on schools who are still paying a lot of money to former coaches. Yay. It only mentions Gene Chizik, too, because they're only looking at football head coaches. That doesn't even count Ellis Johnson and Tony Barbee. Double yay.

Jay Jacobs says Auburn is having trouble finding big-name opponents in 2018-19 even though they've put out the call that the Tigers will play anyone in a P5 conference. It's interesting to see him discuss neutral site games, there. I know Auburn would prefer home-and-home games with Auburn at home in 2018. There's also the factor that B1G teams want to take advantage of the cold, and I'm sure an unspoken part of Jacobs' discussion is that he says they have to be early in the season. Auburn isn't going to want to play a big Out-Of-Conference opponent in the heat of the SEC schedule.

This weekend is Auburn's "Big Cat" recruiting weekend. It may or may not yield some commitments, but if it doesn't, don't be too discouraged. This weekend is all about setting up relationships. And if there are any commitments, we'll have you covered on them.