Baseball Season Opener - Auburn vs Longwood

At 5 pm CST today in Auburn, Alabama, it will be 68 degrees, overcast, humid, but a little breezy. In other words, pretty good conditions for a mid-February start to the 2018 baseball season at Plainsman Park.

Auburn opens the year against Longwood tonight to try and build on a year during which big strides were made in Butch Thompson’s second season. Thompson opens his third year on the Plains with one of, if not the, best pitcher in the country in Casey Mize, who will start tonight’s game.

Tonight, Auburn begins the year against the Lancers of Longwood, and this series should serve as a good testing ground for a Tiger team trying to fit in some new pieces. Longwood accrued just a 19-34 record last year, hit just .261 as a team, and had a team ERA of 5.94 on the year.

Casey Mize will get the start tonight for Auburn, and he’ll be facing off against Steven Farkas, who went just 2-3 last year with a 3.38 ERA. Mize, of course, enters 2018 as the top junior prospect in the country by some publications, and a surefire high draft pick once the season ends.

Of particular interest for the Tigers are not only the changes on the field, but on the coaching staff as well. Gone is Brad Bohannon, off to coach the evil empire across the state, and two new assistant coaches will look to make their mark on the Tiger program. Karl Nonemaker returns for his second stint at Auburn after spending some time at Old Dominion, and Gabe Gross comes home to help as well.

Tonight, Auburn will take the field at 5 pm CST, and if you’re unable to be at Plainsman Park, you can check out the game from afar.

HOW TO WATCH AND LISTEN - Auburn vs Longwood - Game 1 - Auburn, AL

TV: SEC Network +

Radio: Auburn Sports Network