Auburn baseball sets pitching rotation for Oklahoma series

Auburn baseball will close out its SEC slate by playing four top-15 squads over the next four weeks, beginning Friday when the No. 13 Oklahoma Sooners visit Plainsman Park for a three-game series.

One of the major changes Auburn made after dropping two of three games to Texas and being swept at Alabama was its pitching rotation. The change has done wonders for the Tigers' confidence as they have now won three straight SEC series with the rotation of Andreas Alvarez, Jake Marciano, and Alex Petrovic. Auburn head coach Butch Thompson plans to keep the rotation intact for the fourth-straight weekend in hopes of getting three more dominant outings and raising their stock in the SEC standings.

The trio of Alvarez, Marciano, and Petrovic has combined to strike out 50 batters over their last three starts while walking just 11. They have also given Auburn quality innings by tossing at least 4 innings in eight of their last nine combined weekend starts.

Auburn is 2-1 in games that Andreas Alvarez starts, losing their most recent game to Florida, 6-3, in the series opener last Thursday. Since assuming the game's starting role, Alvarez has struck out 15 batters while allowing just three walks and six earned runs. In the loss to Florida last Thursday, Alvarez allowed three earned runs on four hits over four innings.

After dropping his last two starts, Marciano climbed back into the winning seat last week by striking out three batters over 4 2/3 innings in the Tigers' 5-3 win over Florida. Despite only winning one game in the stretch, Marciano has dealt nicely on the mound with 17 strikeouts over 15 innings, with just four walks allowed.

Petrovic has been clutch on the mound all season, even more so over these last three games. Petrovic has allowed seven earned runs and five walks in his last three starts, with 18 strikeouts. He allowed four runs on six hits over five innings in his last start, but the Auburn bats backed him up by scoring six runs over the final two frames to steal the win from Florida last Saturday, 8-5. Auburn has also won every game that Petrovic has started over the last three weeks, all deciding the series in Auburn's favor.

Friday and Saturday's games between Auburn and Oklahoma will begin at 6 p.m. CT, with Sunday's finale starting at 2 p.m. CT. Every game will be streamed on SEC Network+ live from Plainsman Park.