Auburn’s pitching staff has been fairly atrocious by all statistical measures during the team’s recent rough stretch.

Besides a sterling performance in a 6-1 win over Troy on March 29, the Tigers have given up 74 runs in losing eight of their past nine games, yielding a 7.98 ERA and allowing opponents to hit .372 against them.

When you look at Auburn’s pitching with two outs, the picture gets even gloomier.

In its eight recent losses, Auburn has given up 50 of its 74 runs with two outs in the inning, allowing a .409 batting average and posting an ERA of 15.31.

And it could be worse: 12 of those 50 runs were unearned.

“We’ve studied it, looked at it, tried to break the numbers down,” Tigers coach John Pawlowski said. “From a pitching standpoint, we’ve talked about finishing innings and having the ability to get the final out, whether you make a big pitch or a big play. It’s hard to work on getting the third out.

“It starts with getting a quality pitch, and then we’ve got to make some defensive plays.”

The five different starters the Tigers have thrown in those eight losses averaged 4 1/3 innings a start, logging an 8.39 ERA and giving up a .382 average.

The bullpen hasn’t provided much relief, posting a 7.56 ERA and a .362 batting average against.

That’s not to say the blame for the streak hangs entirely on the pitchers: Auburn’s bats produced 4.3 runs per game in the eight losses, down appreciably from the 6.5 they were averaging before the stretch.

Something’s got to give for Auburn (15-14, 2-7 SEC) as it travels to take on Kentucky (16-14, 2-7) this weekend.

“I told our team it’s not necessarily about who we’re playing,” Pawlowski said. “We’ve just got to find a way to improve in a lot of different areas.

“It’s certainly a big weekend for us.”

Pawlowski continues to tinker with both the rotation and lineup to try and find a spark for that improvement.

Junior Derek Varnadore, the Tigers’ most steady starter this year, is moving from his usual Sunday spot to Saturday this week, a move, Pawlowski said, designed to make sure Varnadore sees the hill.

“We think it may help our team to make that adjustment, to try and change things up,” Pawlowski said. “And there may be some rain issues up here this weekend. You certainly don’t want to get washed out of any game. And if you do, you certainly don’t want it to be your last game with your best arm not pitching.”

As far as the batting order goes, Pawlowski said he’s been encouraged by the work freshman Bobby Andrews has put in during his first two collegiate starts in right field.

Andrews, a left-handed batter, has hit 3-for-11 (.273) out of the leadoff spot in the past two games and flashed some speed on the base paths. He’s hitting .391 in 23 at-bats this year.

“He certainly has brought another dimension to our team,” Pawlowski said. “With a right-hander (Wildcats starter Alex Meyer) on the mound, we’ll try to pack those lefties in there.”

Anything to try and ignite a team that, as little as three weeks ago, looked to be a serious contender for the SEC West crow after taking two of three from Arkansas.

“We’ve kind of got to weather the storm here,” Pawlowski said. “A little storm hit us, and now we’ve got to find a way to get back on track pretty quickly.”

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