RIP: Brent Schoening

Former Auburn ace pitcher Brent Schoening died today after a lengthy battle with leukemia. He was 31.

He played three seasons at Auburn, earning third-team All America honors as a junior in 1999. He went 29-9 and remains among the school's top 10 in strikeouts, wins, games started and innings pitched.

``It is truly a sad day for me personally and for the Auburn baseball family with the loss of Brent,” former Auburn baseball coach Hal Baird said. “While we were well aware of his recent struggles, never the less, it’s a stunner to lose someone like Brent. The courage he demonstrated as player at Auburn was also relative the way he fought this battle. It’s no coincidence that his three years at Auburn was arguably the best three-year period in the history of the program. Brent will be missed those that he touched and I’m very honored to have coached a person of his character.”

Jay G note: People sometimes ask me about the best game I ever covered. I always say it was Game Two of the 1999 Super Regional at Florida State. Schoening started that game and was better than an outstanding Seminoles team. That lineup included future major leaguers Matt Diaz, John-Ford Griffin and Marshall McDougall.

Schoening finally ran out of gas in the ninth inning after 137 pitches. It was the grittiest pitching performance I've ever seen with these eyes. Auburn later lost the game because of an error and bullpen troubles, but I'll never forget how valiantly Schoening performed that day.

I get awkward looks with that answer. People expect an Iron Bowl or something. I can't really say why I was so engrossed that June evening in Tallahassee. FSU was so much better and Schoening kept making the right pitch. It was a confluence of stuff, location, Baird's permissiveness (that's a lot of pitches for a 21-year-old kid) and Schoening's intense desire to somehow get Auburn into the final.

Photo credit: Auburn University