Auburn sets pitching rotation for pivotal road series at Texas A&M

Another weekend is approaching, which means another pivotal SEC series is on tap for the Auburn Tigers.

This weekend, No. 8 Auburn travels to No. 7 Texas A&M for a three-game set with the Aggies hoping to gain ground in the SEC standings and to boost their chances of earning a national seed for the NCAA Regionals that begin in late May with a series win in College Station. The Tigers have prepared all week to face a challenging road environment at Blue Bell Park, and will call upon their best arms to set the tone of the series early and to quiet down the Texas A&M bats, who rank No. 2 in the SEC in slugging percentage and No. 3 in home runs.

For the fifth week in a row, Auburn head coach Butch Thompson will use the rotation of Andreas Alvarez, Jake Marciano, and Alex Petrovic in a weekend series. The Tigers have won their last four SEC series using this rotation, including a road series win at No. 25 Florida two weeks ago.

Alvarez will take the mound for the series opener on Friday at 7 p.m. CT. He boasts a 7-2 record with a 2.22 ERA and 69 strikeouts ahead of this weekend's series, and Auburn is 2-1 in the last three series openers with Alvarez on the mound. Last Friday's start saw Alvarez grab the win in a 6-4 decision over No. 13 Oklahoma after striking out six batters over 6 2/3 innings. Over the last three games, Alvarez has struck out 14 batters to just six walks over 15 complete innings.

Saturday will see Jake Marciano toe the rubber. Marciano is the team's top pitcher with a team-leading 82 strikeouts over 61 2/3 innings. However, the results have not been indicative of how strongly he has performed on the mound. Auburn has won just once in Marciano's last five starts, scoring a total of 13 runs over that period despite Marciano recording 31 strikeouts and allowing only five walks. In his last start, Marciano surrendered two earned runs on six hits with five strikeouts in the Tigers' 2-1 loss to Oklahoma last Saturday.

The series finale on Sunday will see Alex Petrovic attempt to clinch the series for Auburn for the fifth-straight week. Petrovic is known for slow starts, but is fueled by the success of the Auburn bats. If Auburn's bats get hot on Sunday, you can expect Petrovic to counter with strong pitching. He has pitched at least six innings in each of his last three starts, and Auburn has lost only twice this season in games Petrovic has started.