{"id":79663,"date":"2026-04-08T19:40:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T19:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79663"},"modified":"2026-04-08T19:40:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T19:40:20","slug":"auburns-jackson-sanders-willing-to-do-anything-for-this-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79663","title":{"rendered":"Auburn’s Jackson Sanders ‘willing to do anything for this team’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Auburn’s Jackson Sanders ‘willing to do anything for this team’<\/h1>\n

AUBURN, Ala.\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013<\/strong>\u00a0Thanks to an SEC scheduling adjustment over Easter weekend, No. 10 Auburn faced a decision vs. No. 15 Arkansas: four starting pitchers, only three starts.<\/p>\n

It could have been awkward. It ended up being awesome.<\/p>\n

Auburn\u2019s normal Saturday starter, sophomore\u00a0Jackson Sanders\u00a0embraced the opportunity to pitch in relief.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sat down with Coach Thompson earlier in the week and told him, \u2018Whatever you need from me, I\u2019ve got you. I just want to win,\u2019\u201d Sanders said. \u201cWhatever we can do to get the team a win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of being the odd man out, Sanders became the outstanding man in.<\/p>\n

With the series on the line, Sanders entered Saturday\u2019s series finale in the top of the sixth inning with Auburn leading 6-3.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet the first hitter out,\u201d Sanders said of mindset upon entering for his first relief appearance of the season. \u201cThere\u2019s a different kind of momentum coming out the \u2018pen compared to starting. You get brought into the fire pretty quick. Trying to dominate the strike zone today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanders proceeded to hold the Razorbacks to one hit over 4.0 scoreless innings, earning his first career save while striking out eight with no walks, throwing 70.4 percent of his pitches for strikes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat might have been as set as I\u2019ve ever seen\u00a0Jackson Sanders\u00a0and he\u2019s the one who didn\u2019t get into the normal routine,\u201d Auburn coach\u00a0Butch Thompson\u00a0said. \u201cThis is his start day, he comes out of the bullpen and handled it masterfully, had his stuff set and it paid dividends. When Jackson\u2019s stuff is set that way, pretty good. He had one of those days.\u201d<\/p>\n

As well as Sanders pitched, it was the left-hander\u2019s unselfishness that impressed his head coach even more.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was hope for me as a head coach,\u201d Thompson added. \u201cThat was hope for me, for\u00a0Jackson Sanders\u00a0coming to my office, sitting with me. This kid\u2019s willing to do anything for our program.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the one that got adjusted the most and he probably threw better than anybody this weekend, and they all threw great. That\u2019s how you\u2019re supposed to attack things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Sanders\u2019 team-first willingness to embrace a relief role could pay dividends in his professional career, says Thompson.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he gets to continue and play, who knows what role you\u2019ll be in,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cThat\u2019s part of the college experience. He\u2019s getting to try and do all these different things and with the right mindset, with the right attitude, he\u2019s always going to find himself in a good place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanders and game three starter\u00a0Alex Petrovic\u00a0teamed up to strike out 12 Razorbacks in Sunday\u2019s 8-3 Auburn victory, allowing only four hits.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re both guys with completely different stuff,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cHe\u2019s a changeup guy with a ride fastball. I\u2019m a sinker guy with a cutter and sweeper. Two totally different arm slots, totally different sides of the rubber, a complete opposite. Knowing if we filled it up and executed pitches we were going to be good coming off each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

After pitching only 17.0 innings as a freshman in 2025, the 6-3, 210-pounder from Opelika, Alabama, earned a weekend starting role during the preseason and has dazzled in 2026 with a 2-1 record, 3.07 ERA, 59 strikeouts and only nine walks.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe worked hard last year,\u201d Thompson recalled. \u201cAs he\u2019s continued to grow and get more. We didn\u2019t use him as much at the back end of last year and he knows why, he kept growing and he never ran away from anything. He grew, competed and got a starting spot, and now we\u2019re getting to a stage where we need him to do something else for a weekend, and he just absolutely attacks it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a great story but a good hope for me having a player like that who\u2019s willing to do anything for this team. Maybe that\u2019s one of those things that\u2019s set us up to be in a good space to win a series.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether he\u2019s starting or relieving this weekend when Kentucky comes to Plainsman Park, Jackson will be ready for action.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Auburn’s Jackson Sanders ‘willing to do anything for this team’ AUBURN, Ala.\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Thanks to an SEC scheduling adjustment over Easter weekend, No. 10 Auburn faced a decision vs. No. 15 Arkansas: … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":79664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1741],"class_list":["post-79663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-jackson-sanders"],"yoast_head":"\nAuburn's Jackson Sanders 'willing to do anything for this team' - iSport<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thanks to an SEC scheduling adjustment over Easter weekend, No. 10 Auburn faced a decision vs. No. 15 Arkansas: four starting pitchers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/isport.com.ng\/?p=79663\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Auburn's Jackson Sanders 'willing to do anything for this team' - 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