Former Auburn slugger Hunter Morris has been tearing it up in the Southern League. He was named the Milwaukee Brewers’ Minor League Player of the Month for the second time this season.

The Huntsville Stars 1st Baseman is leading the Southern League in hits, doubles, RBI’s, and total bases. His has 13 extra bases hits, has hit seven homeruns, and his .307 batting average is the third best in the league.

He was also honored as the League’s Player of the Week last week and the Player of the Month in April.

Of course this recognition shouldn’t come as a surprise as Hunter led the South Eastern Conference while at Auburn in home runs, hits, slugging percentage, and total bases. He was a First Team All-American pick and the SEC player of the Year in 2010.

Derek Varnadore became the first Auburn player taken in the 2012 Major League Draft on Tuesday. The Auburn senior was drafted by the New York Yankees in the ninth round.

The right-handed pitcher was 4-7 with a 4.93 ERA in 2012. He was the 2011 ace with a 3.68 ERA and a 6-3 record. He had 137 strike outs in his two years at Auburn and held opposing batters to a 2.72 batting average.

Varney was picked in the 17th round last year by the Florida Marlins but he decided to come back and give Auburn one more year.

Sophomore Ryan Tella was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 11th round. The sophomore out fielder was one of the top hitters in the SEC finishing fourth in the league with a .360 batting average. An All-SEC Second Team selection, he finished among the conference leaders in seven different offensive categories. 

So far the Tigers have lost three top signees to the MLB draft. Colin Rodgers, a left-handed pitcher from Baton Rouge, La., was the 100th overall pick of the Kansas City Royals. And on Monday Outfielder David Dahl and infielder Addison Russell were drafted in the first round.

Dahl, an outfielder from Oak Mountain High School, was the 10th pick by the Colorado Rockies and Russell, a shortstop from Pace, Fla., was the 11th pick by the Oakland Athletics.

Both of these guys will most likely sign to play professionally while Rodgers may wait till July 13 to decide on signing with the Royals or coming to Auburn.

Auburn is now tied with Arkansas (second place) in the SEC for having at least one player selected in the MLB Draft every year since 1975. Georgia is at the top of that list with their streak dating one year longer to 1974.

As an Auburn Baseball fan, this is always a happy and at the same time, a frustrating time of the year.

While it is always good to see seniors like Derek Varnadore achieve their dreams of signing a professional contract, it’s also frustrating to see good players snatched up before they finish their college careers.

I just hope Tella will follow Varney’s lead and come back another year. Lord knows we need him.

The Auburn Baseball Team failed to get a bid to the NCAA Tournament Monday.

Last year the Tigers had a good RPI but fell one win short of earning a berth. This year the Tigers had the wins (31-28) but had too high of an RPI (56) to make it in.

The Tigers were one of the bubble teams that didn’t get chosen for the 64-team NCAA field.

There were eight SEC teams (Florida, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, LSU, Arkansas, Mississippi State and Ole Miss) to make the field.

Auburn had to deal with an unusual amount of injuries during the season but even so, they had their chances.

In the end it appears the pre-season prognosticators got it right.

Auburn was picked to finish 11th in the SEC and they ended the season 10^th.

Auburn’s Ryan Tella was named today to the All-SEC Baseball Team. The sophomore from Fremont, California was placed on the second team by a vote of the Conference Coaches.

The Centerfielder had a .973 fielding percentage and was the leading hitter on the league’s top hitting team with a .360 batting average.

He was among the league’s leaders in several categories including being fourth in batting average, fourth in hits (85), fifth in triples (4), sixth in on base percentage (.448), seventh in total bases (120), eighth in walks (35), and third in stolen bases (17).

Congratulations to Ryan and War Eagle!

It was no secret that the Auburn Baseball team had a tough assignment in today’s SEC Tournament opponent – South Carolina. The Gamecocks are the two time Defending National Champions.

Nevertheless the Tigers gave the Carolinians all they could handle as they were eliminated 5-3.

“I’m really proud, first of all and foremost, of how our team competed today,” said Auburn Head Coach John Pawlowski. “I thought they battled all three games of this tournament. Today was another battle for us. I thought (Caolina’s ace) Michael Roth threw the ball extremely well. Unfortunately, we didn’t have many opportunities.”

South Carolina had a 5-1 lead in the fifth but the Tigers battled back closing the gap to two runs. The Plainsmen had two runners in scoring position in the seventh and the eighth but couldn’t bring them home.

With two outs and runners in scoring position in the eighth, Ryan Tella hit a double and scored on Justin Bryant‘s single, bringing Patrick Savage to the plate as the tying run. Savage then hit a deep fly to the left field gap that was chased down by the Gamecocks’sTanner English to end the threat.

Auburn finished the season 31-28 while South Carolina’s record improved to 40-16. The Gamecocks continue the hunt for the Conference Tournament Title and will probably be picked to host an NCAA Regional next week.

Auburn has enough wins to qualify for the NCAA Tournament but with an RPI of 57, they are a team that’s on the bubble.

The Tigers will go home to await Monday’s announcements of which teams will receive bids to the Big Dance. ESPNU will broadcast the NCAA Tournament Selection Show at 11am CST.

Stay tuned.

The Auburn Baseball team got some good news and some bad news on Saturday.

The Good News …

The Seniors got to finish their last game on Hitchcock Field with a 5-4 victory over the No. 2Florida Gators.

The Tigers did it with good hitting, good defense, and a strong outing by right hander Derek Varnadore who made his first start since April 20th.

Varnadore (4-7) allowed four runs and struck out three batters in seven full innings of work.Justin Bryant picked up the save.

It was a great night for the eight seniors who all have a big win as their last memory at Plainsman Park.

Auburn’s record is now 30-26 and the Tigers will play in their third straight SEC Tournament on next Tuesday. It’s the first time since the 2003 season for Auburn to make three consecutive SEC Tournaments.

The Bad News …

Auburn’s opponent for Tuesday’s game – The No. 2 Florida Gators – a team that held the Tigers (the SEC’s top hitting club) to just 5 hits in the series first two games.

Mississippi State’s wins over Kentucky this weekend coupled with Florida’s series win, has Auburn going into the tournament as the No. 10 seed and therefore having to play the No. 3 seed – Florida..

Florida (40-16) will have a lot of motivation. Saturday’s loss to Auburn knocked them out of winning the SEC Eastern Division Title and cost them a first-round bye in the tournament.

You can bet the Gators are looking forward to meeting the Tigers again on Tuesday afternoon.

And if that wasn’t enough. the Tigers are bracketed against teams that they hold a 2-10 record against. But These Tigers are capable of doing it as they showed on Saturday.

It just depends on which Auburn team shows up in Hoover …

The one that was held to five hits in the first two Florida games or the one that took two out of three against No.13 Arkansas and then beat the No.2 team in the land .

Game time on Tuesday is at 4:30 p.m. Lets do it again boys.

War Eagle!