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April 12, 2012

The Auburn baseball team heads to Nashville, Tenn., for a three-game series at Vanderbilt beginning Friday at 6pm. Friday's game will air live on CSS and ESPN3.com. The series then continues at 2pm on Saturday and 1pm on Sunday.

Auburn (18-14, 6-6 SEC) sits in third place in the SEC West, tied with Ole Miss while Vanderbilt (13-19, 4-8) goes into the series last in the SEC East and tied for 11th in the conference.

PITCHING MATCHUPS

FRIDAY, APRIL 13 • 6PM CT • HAWKINS FIELD • WKKR-FM 97.7 • AUBURNTIGERS.COM LIVE AUDIO • CSS
RHP Derek Varnadore (1-4, 4.93) vs. RHP T.J. Pecoraro (0-0, 2.45)

SATURDAY, APRIL 14 • 2PM CT • HAWKINS FIELD • WMXA-FM 96.7 • AUBURNTIGERS.COM LIVE AUDIO
RHP Jon Luke Jacobs (4-0, 2.53) vs. RHP Tyler Beede (1-3, 4.79)

SUNDAY, APRIL 15 • 1PM CT • HAWKINS FIELD • WKKR-FM 97.7 • AUBURNTIGERS.COM LIVE AUDIO
LHP Daniel Koger (2-2, 2.03) vs. LHP Kevin Ziomek (2-6, 5.49)

Auburn is playing a SEC East team for the first time this season after opening with four straight series against SEC West foes. Auburn has used its pitching to win three of four series as the team leads the league in SEC games with a 3.24 ERA.

Garrett Cooper brings a team-best eight game hitting streak into the weekend. He is hitting .412 (14-for-34) with two doubles, a home run, five RBIs and seven runs scored during the streak, striking out just five times in those eight games. The junior first baseman has reached base safely in 30 of the 31 games he has played in this season.

GAME NOTES • GAMES 33-35 • AUBURN (18-14, 6-6 SEC) AT VANDERBILT (14-19, 4-8 SEC)

AUBURN ALL-TIME VS. VANDERBILT
26-24 advantage in Nashville ... Auburn has lost its last four series in Nashville with its last series win coming in the 2001 season ... Since then Auburn has gone just 3-9 in Nashville ... Auburn's last series win anywhere over Vanderbilt was in 2009 at Auburn ... Auburn has won just one of the last seven series played between the two teams.

John Pawlowski is 3-6 all-time against Vanderbilt, with all nine games coming as the head coach at Auburn ... He and Vanderbilt Head Coach Tim Corbin were both assistant coaches at Clemson during their careers ... Pawlowski was a Jack Leggett assistant from 1994-98 while Corbin was there from 1994-02 ... Both were on staff when Clemson went to the College World Series in 1995 and 1996.

Jon Luke Jacobs will be making his third career start against Vanderbilt ... Is 1-1 all-time against the Commodores, earning a win on Saturday in 2009 and taking a Saturday loss in 2011 ... In 12 career innings, he has struck out 10 while allowing just 13 hits and two walks, surrendering three earned runs in each outing ... He has never pitched at Hawkins Field.

Cory Luckie is the only player on this year's roster that played in Auburn's last win over Vanderbilt ... He threw a complete game five-hitter on Saturday in 2010 as Auburn claimed a 12-2 win in Nashville.

HOME-ROAD SPLITS
Auburn has gone 14-7 (.667) at home this season but is just 3-7 (.300) on the road ... The offense has hit .321 inside Plainsman Park, scoring 140 runs (6.7 runs per game) with 63 extra-base hits (46 doubles, nine triples, eight home runs) while the pitching staff has a 2.39 ERA in 188 innings, striking out 141 (6.75 K/9) ... When Auburn hits the road those numbers change to a .276 team batting average and 4.3 runs per game while the pitching staff has a 6.00 ERA, averaging just 3.96 strike outs per game.

COOP-A-LOOP!
Junior first baseman Garrett Cooper has not only been getting it done in the field, where he has a .996 fielding percentage on 282 chances, but the junior has also reached base safely in 30 of the 31 games he has played in this year ... He is currently riding an eight-game hitting streak in which he is hitting .412 (14-34) with two doubles, a home run, five RBIs and seven runs scored ... He has struck out just five times in those eight games.

TWIN KILLINGS
Auburn's defense turned three double plays on Tuesday night against Samford, the fourth time this season Auburn has turned three double plays in a game ... Auburn's middle infielders Creede Simpson and Dan Glevenyak have been in on 20 and 19, respectively, of Auburn's 27 double plays, which is third in the SEC.

DON'T TEST THE BACKSTOPS
Auburn's catching duo of Blake Austin and Caleb Bowen have helped control the opposing running game as they have thrown out a combined 18 of 47 runners trying to steal a base ... As a team Auburn has thrown out 22 runners, which leads the SEC ... Austin's 10 caught stealing by is third in the league while Bowen's eight are tied for fourth.

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