Beyond Sunday starter Derek Varnadore, Auburn has struggled mightily to find consistency in its starting pitching this year.

Varnadore, a junior, has a 3.60 ERA on the season and averages 6 2/3 innings a start.

The five other pitchers who have started a game for Auburn this year have a 5.76 ERA and average 4 2/3 innings in their starts.

After a solid freshman campaign, Slade Smith started out as the Tigers’ Saturday starter, until four underwhelming outings made Auburn turn to Will Irvin.

Irvin looked to be a good stop-gap with a six-inning, two-run outing against Arkansas, but was shelled last weekend against Mississippi State, to the tune of seven earned runs on six hits in 2/3 of an inning.

When the Tigers (15-10, 2-4 SEC) take on top-ranked Vanderbilt (23-3, 4-2) this weekend, their Saturday starter will be the dreaded “TBA.”

But that’s not the only change in store for Auburn’s rotation this weekend.

Cory Luckie, who is 1-1 with a 5.34 ERA in six starts this year, is yielding his usual Friday spot tonight to Andrew Morris (1-1, 4.32 ERA), who notched a quality start against Jacksonville State last week sandwiched between two scoreless relief outings.

“Andrew’s thrown the ball well for us,” Tigers coach John Pawlowski said. “In that start at Jacksonville State, he was very consistent, stayed in the zone. We just felt like it would be a good idea to get him in the rotation.

“We felt like he was going to be in the rotation at some point. We just didn’t know when.”

Pawlowski said basically everyone else on the roster besides Varnadore — including Luckie, Smith, Irvin and Jon Luke Jacobs — will be available to relieve Morris tonight, with whoever doesn’t have to work extensively getting a shot at the Saturday start.

Jacobs is a relatively new entry to the fray, after pitching three perfect innings to start Tuesday’s 6-1 win over Troy coming off a three-week absence due to injury.

“That was very encouraging,” Pawlowski said. “We certainly missed him. Now that Jon Luke’s back in the fold, his arm is fine, he’s healthy and he felt very good after the outing. It gives us another option.”

Vanderbilt is facing no such inconsistencies with its staff this year.

The Commodores’ staff has a 2.29 ERA on the season and is led by three starters who could probably be the No. 1 guy just about anywhere.

Vanderbilt saves the best for first in tonight’s starter Sonny Gray, a junior righty who has a 1.51 ERA, a .155 batting average against and 58 strikeouts in 41 2/3 innings this year.

Of course, following acts Grayson Garvin (2.45 ERA, .179 opponent batting average) and Taylor Hill (2.76 ERA, 33 strikeouts in 32 2/3 innings) aren’t too shabby either.

“You look at them, they have arm strength, they have pitch ability,” Pawlowski said. “Runs are going to be tough to come by. We’re going to have to find a way to maximize runners in scoring position. When we have runners in scoring position, we’re going to have to be very efficient in getting those guys in.”

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