Auburn announces pitching rotation for Texas series

USA Today

17-04-2025

Auburn announces pitching rotation for Texas series Here's who Butch Thompson is sending to the bump for this weekend's crucial SEC series with the Texas Longhorns
The Auburn Tigers are riding a six-game winning streak as they prepare to travel to take on No. 1 Texas for a weekend series beginning on Thursday night.
The Tigers moved up in the USA TODAY Baseball Coaches Poll and are currently ranked No. 9. So, it will be a huge top-ten matchup between these two teams. The Longhorns currently sit at the top of the SEC with a 13-2 conference record and are 30-5 overall. For Auburn, they are sixth in the conference with a 9-6 record and 27-10 overall.
As with any big baseball series, pitching could decide the outcome. Head coach Butch Thompson threw out the combination of Samuel Dutton, Cade Fisher, and Andreas Alvarez last weekend at home against LSU, which resulted in a clean sweep of the No. 3 Bayou Bengals. Thompson feels that Texas is the most sound team that his squad has faced this season, meaning that three days of strong pitching will be needed in order to escape Austin with a series win.
Here is how Auburn will look on the bump this weekend at No. 1 Texas.
Game one: Samuel Dutton (Thursday)
When the series opens on Thursday the Tigers will be placing Samuel Dutton on the mound. It has been commonplace for Dutton to be the game one starter in these weekend series. Dutton is 5-2 on the season with an ERA of 2.34. He is 4-1 in SEC play with his lone loss coming against Georgia. Last week in game one versus LSU, Dutton pitched six innings allowing zero runs and struck out seven batters in the Tigers 8-4 win. He is ninth in the SEC with 58 strikeouts on the season.
Game two: Cade Fisher (Friday)
Cade Fisher picked up his first win of the season on Saturday in game two versus LSU. In the 4-2 win, Fisher pitched five innings and gave up one run with three hits. In the win, he struck out six of the 23 batters he faced in the game. This season he has a 3.91 ERA, and 31 strikeouts. Auburn will need another performance like he had against LSU to defeat the Longhorns.
Game three: Andreas Alvarez (Saturday)
Freshman Andreas Alvarez was the starter in game three versus LSU on Sunday. It was his fifth start of the season, but he did not get the decision in the 3-2 victory. He pitched four innings before being relieved by Griffin Graves who got his third win of the season. For Alvarez, he did not have any strikeouts but only allowed two hits while on the mound. He walked three batters. He will need to have control of his pitches against the Longhorns in what could be a series deciding game on Saturday.
Auburn vs. Texas weekend schedule
Thursday: 7 p.m. CT (SEC Network+)
7 p.m. CT (SEC Network+) Friday: 6 p.m. CT (SEC Network+)
6 p.m. CT (SEC Network+) Saturday: noon CT (SEC Network+)
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