We got to the stadium just before the gates opened so we could assure our spot beside the dugout. Other than the two Auburn fans who wouldn't be inside of us on Sunday, we kept our same line-up from Saturday because if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
I wore my Hunter Ensley NIL shirt. I have several favorite players on this team, but Hunter is my Favorite favorite. [UPDATE: We had dinner with Kirby Connell and Zander Sechrist after the Sunday LSU game a week later, and now I have three Favorite favorites: those boys are amazing. But back to Hunter:] He's just a really good player that doesn't get the attention that a lot of other guys get, and I think that's crap. So he gets an overabundance of my attention (but not in a creepy way - I hope). Plus, he has the best smile in all of sports.
When he came back to the dugout during BP, he saw my shirt and came over with a huge smile on his face. I freaking love that smile and seeing his face light up. He gave me a high five and grabbed my hand, and I went into total fangirl mode and blacked out. I know I asked him if we could take a quick photo, which resulted in this shot:
I really wanted to tell him that he's my Favorite favorite and that his walk-up song (Let Me Clear My Throat) is my Jam. But I don't think I talked to him at all. I may have said, "Thanks, Hunter!" after the photo, but I honestly can't tell you. I didn't even tell him my name! Just a total mental black-out. I was calmer when I met Tony! Geez. Maybe one day I'll get the chance to rectify that situation.
[UPDATE: I got to talk to Hunter briefly in the family area after the Sunday LSU game, and I managed to actually introduce myself and tell him my name. I still didn’t get to the other stuff, but at least he knows I’m able to speak.]
ANYWAY...in other pregame dugout news, Billy Amick was dressed and looked ready to play.
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| Coach Q: Miracle Worker |
For those who don't know, he played the entire Ole Miss series with appendicitis and thought he just had a really upset stomach. He hit a freaking grand slam with appendicitis! He had surgery the day after that series, which was about two weeks before the Auburn series. We saw him in the dugout earlier in the weekend, but he didn't have a jersey on. As it turned out, he would not play in Auburn, but he would be back in action the following weekend against LSU, and dang if he didn't come out and hit a home run on the first ball pitched to him. I feel like my recovery from an appendectomy would be much slower than that. Welcome back, Bill.
But back to Auburn weekend: It was a beautiful day in Auburn, and we were having a beautiful time by our dugout. Chad Zurcher's wife, Ara, came down to stand with us for this game. They are two incredibly nice and lovely people.
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| CMo getting ready to start us off |
Auburn started off hot with a three-run homer in the first, but the Vols answered and, as with Saturday's game, the home runs were plentiful. Because I was right next to the dugout this time, the gate to the field was in the way of the elbow bump pictures, but I got good pics of the victorious batters entering the dugout and collecting their spoils.
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| Cal hit a grand slam to bring the team's season record to 9! |
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| CMo immediately followed up, and Cal transferred the Daddy hat to him. |
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| Cal smoked another three-run homer. I'm now looking for the home run cycle. |
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| HUNTER HOMER! It's the shirt! |
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| KT touches 'em all! |
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| And finally, Curley |
We had a little crazy action mixed in with the home runs. In the top of the 5th, Burke hit a line drive foul ball into the camera well at the other end of the dugout, and it SLAMMED the War Eagle Productions camera man in his gut. Tony immediately called a time-out. The guy doubled over and fell off his platform. Woody and Kirby ran over to attend to him until the EMS guys could get over there. Amazingly, after a few minutes, the guy got up, tried for a bit to stand back behind the camera but then thought better of it, and left the game walking. The guys lined up in the dugout to give him high fives, and he got a fist bump from Tony. Worth it? Probably.
[UPDATE: Kirbs told us at dinner that this same guy was manning the center field camera during BP on Saturday and Burke hit him in the head with a dinger during BP! The man needs protective gear!]
Then at some point Dalton Bargo threw a bat at us. It flew out of his hands while he was swinging and landed in the net over our heads. I guess he didn't have as much bat spray on his bat as I had on my legs this weekend. Tony was concerned and yelled to give us a "HEADS UP!" Then he ordered more bat spray.
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| Frank and Tony working magic. |
Saturday and Sunday were both run rule victories, so we got to get on the road home a little earlier than planned. Unfortunately, it was the end of Spring Break week for a lot of folks in Atlanta, and the traffic going up I-85 was absolutely horrendous all the way to Newnan, so we didn't really save any time. In any event, it was a fabulous trip.
One of my favorite parts of the weekend was hearing Tony coach from the dugout. Favorite, or most prevalent, Tony sayings that we will be working into our cheering rotation are:
"Good, steady tempo."
"Loose and aggressive."
"Hit 'em in the shorts!"
"Hit 'em in the shorts - tomahawk!" - I feel like these two must be code for something, and I'm not sure what it is, but they're fun. [Kirby and Zan agreed that this means to shrink your strike zone and swing only when the ball is in the area where your shorts would be if you were wearing shorts.]
"Next task."
"Get in his pants!" - NOTE: I thought I heard Tony say this, but Ben said he said, "Win this pitch." [Kirby and Zan thought Ben was most likely correct.] Either way, "Get in his pants" is now part of the weekend rotation.
"Scrappy Doo!" - My personal favorite
“Let it play out.” [Kirbs actually reminded me of this one when he used it on me at dinner.]
We also learned a few new dugout nicknames that we'll be bringing to the masses.
Finally, because this was one of the best weekends I've ever had in Auburn (or in a lot of other places!), I was reflecting on the many good times I've had in Auburn and marveling that this one was so great when I wasn't even there as an Auburn fan. So I'll leave you with my Top 10 Best Weekends in Auburn:
1. Kick Six: Iron Bowl 2013 (no question)
2. Auburn vs. Tennessee baseball weekend 2024 😮
3. Miracle in Jordan-Hare: Georgia 2013 (2 and 3 were REALLY close)
4. Cafe Jordan-Hare 2012
5. Cafe Jordan-Hare 2014
6. Auburn women's football camp 2015
7. Cafe Jordan-Hare 2013
8. Auburn women's football camp 2014
9. Iron Bowl weekend 2017
10. Auburn vs. Arkansas 2014: rain game
I've probably mis-numbered some and maybe forgotten about some that should be in here, but I could've analyzed this list for days and probably never ordered them with complete certainty, so this is it off the top of my head.
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