The Auburn baseball team will begin its fall practice schedule today at Plainsman Park, as the team starts preparations for the 2011 season and a defense of its 2010 SEC Western Division championship.

Having lost nine players off of last year’s team to professional baseball, Auburn head coach John Pawlowski and his staff will have to infuse a group of 17 newcomers with a talented crop of returnees, which includes three players (Kevin Patterson, 23rd round; Bradley Hendrix, 30th round; and Justin Fradejas, 35th round) that turned down the lure of professional baseball after being drafted to play another year at Auburn.

“It is going to be important, especially for our newcomers, to see how they respond in a competitive environment,” Pawlowski said. “When we start team practice, we will get a lot of opportunities to scrimmage. It is going to be a very competitive fall, maybe one of the most competitive since I have been here. With all of the departures that we had, there are a lot of positions, not only on the mound but also in the field, that are up for grabs.”

The fall practice season will conclude with the annual home run derby and an alumni game Oct. 22, beginning at 4 p.m. The day after the home run derby the 2010 SEC Western Division Championship team will be recognized on the field at halftime of the Auburn-LSU football game.

Volleyball tops Troy
Auburn traveled to Troy to take the Trojans in a mid-week match and came away with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-21) victory to improve to 7-2 on the season on Tuesday.

“It was a very strong bench performance for us today,” head coach Wade Benson said. “We had momentum-changing performances from athletes like Brittney Rhude, Alyssa Davis and Jonelle Wallace, which is very good to see. We still have things to work on in practice and we’ll continue to develop as a team.”

Junior Kelly Fidero finished with a match-high 10 kills and had a .421 attack percentage on the night. Alyssa Davis, Kathia Rud and Sarah Bullock each tallied five kills for the Tigers, while Bullock had a match-best 15 digs. Senior libero Liz Crouch added 12 digs, while setters Chelsea Wintzinger and Christina Solverson tallied 15 and 14 assists, respectively.

No. 18 men’s golf set to open season
The 18th-ranked Auburn men’s golf team begins the 2010-11 season Friday at the Carpet Capital Collegiate at The Farm Golf Club in Rocky Face, Ga.

Sophomore Blayne Barber, ranked as a preseason top-five individual by Golf World Magazine, will lead the Tigers in the No. 1 position.

The Lake City, Fla., native is currently ranked 18th in the Scratch Players World Amateur Rankings.

The Tigers’ returning low scorer from the 2009-10 season, Will McCurdy will play the No. 2 spot, followed by Florida State transfer Michael Hebert, 2009-10 SEC All-Freshman selection David Zickler and second-team All-SEC junior Kyle Kopsick.