Baseball News: 2-10-2026
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Dudley Dent
Feb 10, 2026, 8:24:42 AM (4 days ago) Feb 10
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Auburn Baseball News: 2-10-2026
Graves dealing with minor injury as Opening Day draws near:
https://www.on3.com/teams/auburn-tigers/news/graves-dealing-with-minor-injury-as-opening-day-draws-near/
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Graves dealing with minor injury as Opening Day draws near
By Bryan Matthews
Auburn could be without one of its projected starter for the opening weekend, but Griffin Graves shouldn’t be out for long. The junior sat out the final weekend of intra-squad games with a lat injury.
“Graves is missing this weekend. So that’ll be interesting to see if he’s going to be on track,” said AU coach Butch Thompson. “Feels like we have enough for the first weekend.”
The Tigers’ pitching staff has started to pick it up over the last couple of weeks led by Virginia Tech transfer Jake Marciano, who has put together back-to-back strong starts. Sophomore left-hander Jackson Sanders had a strong outing Saturday.
“Marciano was great (Friday),” said Thompson. “Him and Sanders, the two lefties, were just phenomenal.”
Western Kentucky transfer Drew Whalen is also a candidate to be a starter along with sophomores Alex Petrovic, Christian Chatterton and Andreas Alvarez. A couple of those guys will likely take on a piggyback role the first couple of weekends, following directly behind the starter.
“You know, our starters aren’t built up so you put two or three on the backend,” said Thompson. “So if you got a starter going four or five innings, which is all they’ve done, those sixth, seventh and eighth innings are going to be big too.”
BUILDING UP THE BULLPEN
Thompson also singled out freshman LJ Cormier and junior Jett Johnston has potential middle relievers.
“Cormier was great (Friday),” said Thompson. “He had a 39-pitch outing and got 3.1 innings. That’s what we’re looking for, somebody that can roll or come behind a starter. And he threw behind Marciano.
“That was probably the reason why the blue team or the the A team struggled a little bit offensively. We had a starter and a piggyback guy throw the baseball really good.”
On the backend, Michigan State transfer Garrett Brewer and junior Ryan Hetzler are the most likely pitchers to come on in save situations. Hetzler led AU with eight saves last year. Freshman Ethin Bingaman could also figure into the tail end of Auburn’s bullpen along with securing a place in the lineup. The right-hander hit two home runs in Saturday’s intra-squad.
“I just asked the players to take me through a debrief and they’re just talking about the at-bats that Ethan Bingaman’s having. And one was right there at the end one of our starters,” said Thompson.
“Jackson Sanders is one of the best starts we’ve had. We we’re trying to squeeze three or four more pitchers or get one more out at the end of his pitch count to keep growing and building up, and Bingaman hits a 2-run homer. So it was against a guy that was throwing the ball great at the vulnerable moment at the end of the outing and then hit a second one today.”
Auburn opens the season this weekend against Youngstown State. Game times are tentatively scheduled for 6 p.m. CT Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
Graves dealing with minor injury as Opening Day draws near:
https://www.on3.com/teams/auburn-tigers/news/graves-dealing-with-minor-injury-as-opening-day-draws-near/
*************************
Graves dealing with minor injury as Opening Day draws near
By Bryan Matthews
Auburn could be without one of its projected starter for the opening weekend, but Griffin Graves shouldn’t be out for long. The junior sat out the final weekend of intra-squad games with a lat injury.
“Graves is missing this weekend. So that’ll be interesting to see if he’s going to be on track,” said AU coach Butch Thompson. “Feels like we have enough for the first weekend.”
The Tigers’ pitching staff has started to pick it up over the last couple of weeks led by Virginia Tech transfer Jake Marciano, who has put together back-to-back strong starts. Sophomore left-hander Jackson Sanders had a strong outing Saturday.
“Marciano was great (Friday),” said Thompson. “Him and Sanders, the two lefties, were just phenomenal.”
Western Kentucky transfer Drew Whalen is also a candidate to be a starter along with sophomores Alex Petrovic, Christian Chatterton and Andreas Alvarez. A couple of those guys will likely take on a piggyback role the first couple of weekends, following directly behind the starter.
“You know, our starters aren’t built up so you put two or three on the backend,” said Thompson. “So if you got a starter going four or five innings, which is all they’ve done, those sixth, seventh and eighth innings are going to be big too.”
BUILDING UP THE BULLPEN
Thompson also singled out freshman LJ Cormier and junior Jett Johnston has potential middle relievers.
“Cormier was great (Friday),” said Thompson. “He had a 39-pitch outing and got 3.1 innings. That’s what we’re looking for, somebody that can roll or come behind a starter. And he threw behind Marciano.
“That was probably the reason why the blue team or the the A team struggled a little bit offensively. We had a starter and a piggyback guy throw the baseball really good.”
On the backend, Michigan State transfer Garrett Brewer and junior Ryan Hetzler are the most likely pitchers to come on in save situations. Hetzler led AU with eight saves last year. Freshman Ethin Bingaman could also figure into the tail end of Auburn’s bullpen along with securing a place in the lineup. The right-hander hit two home runs in Saturday’s intra-squad.
“I just asked the players to take me through a debrief and they’re just talking about the at-bats that Ethan Bingaman’s having. And one was right there at the end one of our starters,” said Thompson.
“Jackson Sanders is one of the best starts we’ve had. We we’re trying to squeeze three or four more pitchers or get one more out at the end of his pitch count to keep growing and building up, and Bingaman hits a 2-run homer. So it was against a guy that was throwing the ball great at the vulnerable moment at the end of the outing and then hit a second one today.”
Auburn opens the season this weekend against Youngstown State. Game times are tentatively scheduled for 6 p.m. CT Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
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