Toyota Field To Host Auburn Baseball

MADISON- Toyota Field will host its first Southeastern Conference baseball game when the Auburn Tigers face the Golden Eagles of Tennessee Tech on Tuesday, March 8 with a 6:05 p.m. first pitch.

The game will be a sort of homecoming for two members of the Auburn program. Pitcher/Infielder Cam Hill, a former Bob Jones High standout, will be a sophomore when the Tigers hit the confines of Toyota Field and comes on the heels of an outstanding freshman season where he hit .270 with five homers and 22 RBIs. He was used mainly as a designated hitter. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound left hander was also 2-0 as a pitcher for the program that was 25-27, 10-20 in 2021. Hill’s father, Jamie Hill, is current principal at Discovery Middle School and recently named to be among the 2022 class of the Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame to be inducted in April

Also returning “home” will be Auburn pitching coach Tim Hudson, a 17-year player in Major League Baseball playing for the Oakland A’s, Atlanta Braves and San Francisco Giants, four-time All-Star and winner of a World Series ring in 2014 with the Giants. Prior to his Major League action, Hudson spent one season pitching for the Huntsville Stars, the Double-A affiliate of the Oakland A’s playing at Huntsville’s Joe Davis Stadium. While in the Rocket City at age 22 he was a crowd favorite. He was 10-9 with a 4.54 ERA in 22 games, 134 innings with 104 strikeouts.

While in the big leagues, Hudson was 222-133 with a 3.49 ERA, started 479 games which featured 3,126 innings and 13 shutouts. He retired after the 2015 season and resumed his academic journey in 2019 after it began in the fall of 1995 as a student-athlete at Auburn. Hudson became a graduate of Auburn in ceremonies on Dec. 11 at age 46. He was named pitching coach for Auburn in Jan. 2020.

Auburn will enter the 2022 season with an incoming class of over 20 new Tigers, which was ranked the No. 8 recruiting class in the country by Perfect Game Baseball. The Tigers are led by third-year head coach Butch Thompson. Tennessee Tech of Cookeville, Tenn. was 20-25 in 2021 and welcomes back Matt Bragga as head coach, the position he held from 2004-2018 before moving to Rice University as head coach for three seasons.

All concessions at Toyota Field will be open for the game and alcohol will be available for purchase. Within the game in true Trash Pandas style, numerous exciting contests and promotions will be held.

Tickets go on sale to the general public on Sunday, Jan. 10 at 10:00 a.m.