Part of Auburn University’s baseball team will be part Dallas County.

Catcher Brayton Brown and third baseman David Ducote will both suit up for the Tigers next season. Jackson Henderson will be a senior on the Tigers’ roster for the 2020 season. The JUCO transfer played in four games for the Tigers.

Former Morgan Academy shortstop Gunnar Henderson, The Selma Times’ Journal Baseball player of the year, signed with Auburn last November, but he opted to play for the Baltimore Orioles.

Auburn is coming off a College World Series appearance, but went 0-2. The Tigers could’ve easily made a run at the national championship, dropping a pair of heartbreaking contests to Mississippi State (5-4) and Louisville (5-4).

“As for our players and our program and everybody who supports it, we should feel really good about where we got Auburn baseball,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said

Auburn returns the core of its team and could be a preseason Top 10 next year and compete in the nation’s top college baseball conference, the SEC.

Tigers pitcher Jack Owen and third baseman Edouard Julien, a pair of sophomores, both declined MLB contracts and return to the Plains next year. Owen was drafted in the 21st round of the MLB Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals. Julien was selected in the 18th round by the Minnesota Twins.

Auburn second baseman Ryan Bill will likely take over at shortstop because Will Holland is expected to sign with the Minnesota Twins.

Gunnar Henderson would’ve been Auburn starting shortstop in 2020 had he decided to attend college.

It will be interesting to see how Ducote and Brown, both Selma Times-Journal’s All Dallas County selections, fit in at Auburn. The Tigers already Julien at third base. Auburn also appears set at catcher.

Thompson loves the potential of Auburn’s incoming freshmen. The group was ranked ninth by Baseball America.

“The best qualities of this recruiting class cannot be measured by a poll,” Thompson said. “Their connection to one another a year ahead of arriving to campus has been very impressive to witness.”