SOFTBALL

Tigers head to Knoxville

The No. 21/22 Auburn softball team will travel to Knoxville, Tenn., to take on the No. 10/11 Tennessee Lady Vols in a three-game series beginning today at 7 p.m. with a nationally televised game on ESPNU.

Auburn (28-5, 8-3 SEC) goes into the weekend having won six of its last seven games. The Tigers are coming off a series victory over Ole Miss last weekend in Auburn. In the most recent top 25 rankings, the Tigers are 21st in the ESPN/USA Softball poll and 22nd in the NFCA poll.

The Lady Vols (27-5, 5-3 SEC) have won four straight and seven of their last eight games. Tennessee is ranked 11th by the NFCA and 10th by ESPN/USA Softball.

“Tennessee has players who get on base and they have a lot of speed,” Auburn head coach Tina Deese said. “They run and steal a lot of bases. They have three very good pitchers, two of them are sisters. Coach (Ralph) Weekly does a great job of using them and maximizing their strengths.”

Going into the weekend, Tennessee is second in the SEC in stolen bases, swiping 79 of 95 attempts. The Lady Vols have three players in the top 15 in steals in the league with Raven Chavanne second in the SEC with 20 steals and Kat Dotson third in the league with 19 steals. As a team, Tennessee leads the SEC with a .369 batting average and is second in the SEC with a .460 on-base percentage.

The Tigers will counter with a pitching staff that has the conference’s second-best ERA at 1.62. Auburn pitchers lead the SEC in fewest walks issued with 60 and have the second most strikeouts in the league with 242. Junior pitcher Angel Bunner is fourth in the SEC and 25th in the NCAA with a 1.27 ERA.

MEN’S TENNIS

AU travels to LSU, Arkansas

The No. 18 Auburn men’s tennis team will travel to Baton Rouge, La., today for a matchup against No. 34 LSU, before facing No. 69 Arkansas on Sunday in Fayetteville, Ark.

Today’s matchup will be the 39th in history with LSU holding a 24-14 advantage. On Sunday, the Tigers and Razorbacks will face off in for the 32nd time, with Auburn owning an 18-13 advantage.

Last weekend Auburn (11-6, 3-3 SEC) upset No. 14 Kentucky, 4-1, while LSU (7-10, 2-4 SEC) split a pair of home matches last week against 41st-ranked Nebraska and No. 2 Tennessee at W.T “Dub” Robinson Stadium. the doubles point they posted victories on the top three singles courts to earn a 4-3 victory.

Arkansas (6-11, 0-6 SEC) is coming off a successful week in which it went 2-1. On Wednesday, the Razorbacks hosted a doubleheader defeating, Oral Roberts and St. Louis, 7-0. On Sunday, Arkansas faced Georgia, but fell 7-0.

Auburn received some recognition in the polls and from the Southeastern Conference this week, as the team jumped eight spots in the new ITA rankings. Also, senior Tim Puetz was named the SEC’s men’s tennis Athlete of the Week for his performance against Kentucky.

TRACK AND FIELD

Tigers host Track Classic

The Auburn men’s and women’s track and field teams will host their first meet of the season when the Tiger Track Classic takes place today and Saturday at Hutsell-Rosen Track. It will be the first of just two home meets for Auburn.

On Friday, the only events that will be contested will be the javelin and the hammer throw, with both events beginning at 4:30 p.m. The rest of the action takes place on Saturday, with field events starting at 11 a.m. and running events beginning at noon.

The Tiger Track Classic will feature athletes from several schools across the Southeast.

The Auburn women’s team enters the competition ranked 10th nationally in the preseason Top 25 rankings published by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, while the Tiger men are ranked 18th.