HI NOTES: Tigers win, Tigers lose

QUOTE

"A good friend of mine used to say, 'This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.' Think about that for a while. "

Ebby Calvin "Nuke" Laloosh

GAME DAY

♦ Mizzou Baseball plays Auburn again Saturday at 2:00 PM CT . . . maybe. Two details should be noted:

1. KTGR AM 1580 (ktgr.com) will begin broadcasting the baseball game only upon the completion of the Mizzou Women's Basketball game vs. Kansas, which is scheduled at 1:00 PM.  So if the baseball game begins on time, the first couple of hours may not be broadcast.  However . . .
   
   
2. Expect a rain-out.   According to weather.com, there is a strong chance of rain in Auburn, AL, tomorrow, with a 40% chance at 11 AM, increasing to 90% by game time and growing to 100%, lasting throughout the evening.

♦ Varnadore spots pitches, baffles Missouri hitters in opener (oanow.com)

Varnadore gave up a run on five hits and struck out 11 over seven innings in Auburn’s season-opening, 5-2 win over Missouri on Friday.

The senior threw mainly fastballs — routinely pacing them in the low-90s — and made his living on the outside corner, getting six of his strikeouts looking.
. . .
Holovach got another strikeout, then was replaced by Brett Graves, who loaded the bases on a hit batsman, then gave up RBI walks to Cullen Wacker and Creede Simpson.

Auburn had scored three runs in an inning in which it only put the ball in play three times.

“We call it ‘speed pressure,’” said Simpson, who finished 2-for-3 with a double. “You’re running a lot, you’re moving the ball around and it’s working. That’s a good team we just played, and we have to do that kind of stuff to put ourselves in a position to win. We did it well.”

♦ Derek Varnadore leads Auburn to win over Missouri on Opening Day (al/com)

"He had some innings where he just kept dotting (the corner with) his fastball," said Auburn coach John Pawlowski. "When a guy can do that with that type of velo(city), it makes it tough."
Auburn bunted frequently, playing small-ball with mixed success, in a patchwork lineup that included only one returning starter from last year. But early glimpses of newcomers were encouraging.

Junior college transfer Ryan Tella had a single and RBI double in his first two at-bats. Third baseman Jarred Smith had an RBI single and two walks. Catcher Blake Austin rapped a solid double.

"Our guys have to understand that we've got to do some little things -- maybe some things a little unorthodox, a little different -- to put some pressure on the defense," Pawlowski said.