05/27 at 10:32 PM

HOOVER — Brian Fletcher probably had some bad memories streaming through his head when Blake Cooper plunked him on the hand with a fastball in Thursday’s first inning.

Fletcher, who doesn’t shy away from setting up millimeters from home plate in the batter’s box, has been hit on that portion of his left hand a few times this season, which prompted him to invest in a protective pad for it.

Turns out it probably saved him from a season-ending injury.

The ball hit half pad, half hand, coach John Pawlowski said. Postgame X-rays came up negative and Fletcher will be a game-time decision for today’s Day 3 matchup with Ole Miss.

“His hand is pretty sore,” Pawlowski said. “He’s going to be day to day.”

Fletcher took his base and played one inning of defense before exiting the game. Auburn native Creede Simpson replaced him in left field and hit a solo home run in his first at-bat.

“He’s played center field for us, he’s played right field and when Fletch went down, I said ‘Creede it’s time for you to step up today.’” Pawlowski said. “He did a good job and made some nice plays defensively.”

Trent Mummey also put a miniature scare into Auburn when he went down with leg cramps in the 12th inning. After receiving nearly five minutes of treatment from Auburn’s trainers, Mummey remained in the game for the final out.

“The conditions were pretty warm out there and our guys in the dugout were trying to get a lot of fluid in them,” Pawlowski said. “We’ll continue to evaluate that.”

Nelson to get the start
Pawlowski said right after Thursday’s win he hadn’t decided between right-hander Slade Smith or left-hander Cole Nelson for today’s start.

However, around 8 p.m. Thursday, Nelson was named the starter, according to the Auburn University baseball Twitter feed.

Nelson has had his well-documented ups and downs throughout 2010, but has been throwing better of late.

He threw a complete-game shutout against Tennessee on May 15 before lasting just 3 1/3 innings against Ole Miss last week.

Where’s the O?
Auburn’s prolific offense, much like the majority of teams’ in the conference tournament, has been missing in action.

The Tigers, who averaged nearly 10 runs per game during the second half of conference play and led nearly all the SEC hitting categories, have just four runs and four extra-base hits through 21 innings.

Pawlowski said he wasn’t concerned about the power outage. The Tigers have just run into some dynamite pitching, he said.

“You’re seeing some of the elite pitchers in the country,” Pawlowski said. “We just happened to run into them back-to-back days.”

Auburn first ran into Alabama’s Jimmy Nelson, who came into Wednesday’s game with two consecutive complete games and made it three at
Auburn’s expense. On Thursday, the Tigers faced Blake Cooper, a first-team All-SEC selection who led the league with 10 wins.

“To win at a high level, to win in the postseason and regionals, super regionals and Omaha, those are the type of people you have to beat,”
Pawlowski said. “I told our team ‘If you want challenges, this is what postseason play is all about.’”

Auburn is far from alone in its struggles at the plate, as pitchers all across the league have taken advantage of the spacious dimensions at Regions Park.

Teams combined for four runs or less in three of the first six games. That only happened four times all throughout the conference season.

South Carolina, which averaged 7.5 runs during the regular season, scored just once in its two losses. Arkansas, which scored six more runs
than the Gamecocks during the regular season, was shut out Wednesday and then scored just three runs against Florida.

Both Auburn and Florida won Thursday despite scoring well below their averages, and LSU was the only team Wednesday to meet or exceed its regular-season scoring average.

Big-play Fradejas
While the fans at Regions Park “ooh’d” and “ahh’d” at Justin Fradejas’ leaping, back-to-the-plate catch in the first inning Thursday, Mummey shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s not really crazy, because I feel like I see it every day with our outfielders,” Mummey said. “We’ve all done a great job this year. He made a good read on it and was able to get up and catch it. Hopefully, he’ll keep on playing some great defense.”

Mummey’s view wasn’t a unanimous feeling among his teammates.

“That,” pitcher Austin Hubbard said, “might be No. 1 on SportsCenter.”

No rest
Forget two and a barbecue.

For South Carolina, it’s two losses and two-a-days.

South Carolina coach Ray Tanner said the Gamecocks will be back at practice today at 11 a.m. and will practice twice a day through the weekend.

“We’ll go back to the drawing board and do some teaching the next few days,” Tanner said. “We’ll treat this like a bowl game experience and get in some extra practices.”

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