Good morning. When Paul Nix came to the Plains to coach the Tigers baseball team in 1963, Francis Sanda, then an Auburn University senior, served as Nix's first student manager.

Sanda volunteered to help Coach Nix at practice, hitting grounders to infielders and fly balls to outfielders. This was a different era of SEC baseball with no assistant coaches.

When Nix’s father passed away, the fate of a game against rival Alabama fell to Sanda. Seeking to keep his pitching staff healthy for the balance of a promising season, Nix gave Sanda two explicit instructions:

"'No. 1: Do not pitch Q.V. [Lowe],'" Sanda remembered. "'No. 2: You can pitch [Jim] Blauser, but just let him go four innings at the maximum."

Sanda disobeyed both orders, but see below for the (thankfully) happy ending.

What else can you find mixed into today’s Brew?

🏀 Auburn falls to Tennessee in SEC opener despite Bostic's season-high
⚾️ Some baseball trivia and a look at sophomore Ike Irish 
🐅 And much, much more!

🎤 ONE-ON-ONE WITH BRUCE PEARL

More Pearls of Wisdom. Bruce Pearl sits down with Andy Burcham for the first of our exclusive weekly interviews on WarEagle+.

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 One For the Story Books. The Paul Nix-Francis Sanda Story Cont’d 👇🏼

When Auburn's Scotty Long hit an early three-run homer, Sanda concluded that coaching wasn't so difficult after all.

"Five perfect innings," Sanda said. "I said, 'Jim, I'm going to let you go one more inning.' Sure enough, he's perfect, six innings.'"

"I took him out after six," he said. "Next time Scotty comes up, we've got two people on, he hits another three-run homer. 6-0."

In the seventh, Auburn handed the ball to a freshman, who, in Sanda's estimation, did not receive a fair strike zone from a local umpire Sanda considered to be biased in Alabama's favor.

"All of a sudden, we don't have any strikes," he said.

When Auburn’s lead went down to one, Sanda was fearful of the backlash he'd face in the Auburn Athletic department if the Tigers squandered a six-run lead on his watch and made a bold decision.

"I said, 'Q.V., warm up,'" he recalled.

Not even Q.V., the SEC’s ace pitcher, could get a strike call, and Alabama scored the tying run in the bottom of the eighth.

Auburn scored in the top of the ninth to take a one-run lead, then Lowe came back out for the bottom of the ninth, issuing a leadoff walk, after which Sewell called for a sacrifice bunt to advance the tying run into scoring position with one out.

Visiting the mound, Sanda instructed Lowe to walk the next batter, putting the potential winning run on base but creating a force out at any base for Auburn.

"He hits into a perfect double play to Q.V.," recalled Sanda, and Auburn won 7-6. Nix returned, and Sanda retired from coaching, his perfect winning percentage intact.

"He [Nix] didn't say much since we won," Sanda said, chuckling.

The 1967 Auburn Tigers would go on to make the program's first College World Series appearance, finishing third in Omaha.

Sanda's interactions with contest officials took a friendlier turn with his next position at Auburn, official scorer for men's basketball, a job he's held for 53 seasons.

In more than a half-century of sitting courtside for Auburn basketball, Sanda has seen a lot—the Charles Barkley era and Sonny Smith's run of NCAA Tournament teams, Cliff Ellis' 1999 SEC championship team—all of which set the stage for the past decade of roundball excellence under Bruce Pearl.

"Coach Pearl is one of a kind," Sanda said. "It's tremendous to see the arena get filled every night. He brings the people in."

Whether he's charting every 3-pointer, free throw and foul at Neville Arena, or defying the baseball coach's directives, one thing is certain.

Francis Sanda knows the score.

🔼 A Hardwood Lesson. Auburn led by double digits early in the second half, but Tennessee took control the rest of the way to win the SEC opener 75-67 Thursday at Neville Arena, ending the Tigers' eight-game winning streak.
 
"I thought we came out tough," Auburn coach Johnnie Harris said. "In the second half, we didn't come out with that same intensity and that same hunger. The mistakes we made can be corrected. This team has a big upside, so we'll get back in tomorrow, go to work, and prepare for a tough A&M team."
 
Mar'shaun Bostic scored a season-high 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting to lead Auburn. Honesty Scott-Grayson added 16, and JaMya Mingo-Young scored 11.
 
Auburn (11-3, 0-1) travels to College Station, Texas, to play Texas A&M on Sunday at 3 p.m. CT on SEC Network and the Auburn Sports Network.
 
"They know we missed an opportunity," Harris said. "They'll be prepared a little better mentally now that they know what to look for. We'll get better from this."

🤔 TIGER TRIVIA

“Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.” - Yogi Berra
In the Francis Sanda story mentioned above, we talked about the 1967 Auburn Tigers going on to make the program's first College World Series appearance, finishing third in Omaha.

That brings us to today’s trivia question—how many College World Series has Auburn Baseball reached in total?

Think you know the answer? Scroll down to the bottom to find out!

🐅 ONE BIG THING

No Luck Needed for Ike Irish. All eyes will be on Ike Irish this baseball season. Now a sophomore, Irish was awarded 2023 Freshman All-America (CB, D1, NCBWA, PG), 2023 SEC All-Freshman Team and 2023 SEC Freshman of the Week (3x). It’s no wonder he’s a top prospect for the 2025 MLB Draft.

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🏆 VICTORY FORMATION

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📅 THE WEEK AHEAD

Friday 1/5

🌊 Swimming & Diving @ Tennessee Diving Invitational

Saturday 1/6

🏀 Men’s Basketball @ Arkansas @ 1 p.m. CT on ESPN2

🌊 Swimming & Diving vs. Georgia @ 10 a.m. CT

🤸🏼‍♂️ Gymnastics vs. Alabama @ 2024 Super 16 Challenge @ 8 p.m. CT

🤸🏼‍♂️ Gymnastics vs. UCLA @ 2024 Super 16 Challenge @ 8 p.m. CT

🤸🏼‍♂️ Gymnastics vs. Cal @ 2024 Super 16 Challenge @ 8 p.m. CT

Sunday 1/7

🏀 Women’s Basketball @ Texas A&M @ 3 p.m. CT on SEC Network 100.3 

🐅 Click here to view the entire Auburn Athletics Calendar

🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: Six - The years of Auburn’s College World Series appearances were 1967, 1976, 1994, 1997, 2019, and 2022.

🐅 Have a great Friday, y’all!