Red Shirt Senior (2009): Auten was injured for the majority of the 2009 season and was given a medical redshirt, but started in three games for the Aggies in 2009. In his first appearance of the season, he earned a double at UT-Brownsville (3/25). That run helped the Aggies to a 12-6 defeat in Texas.
Junior (2008): After a great season with the Aggies as a junior, Auten was placed on the 2009 Brooks Wallace Player of the Year Award watch list released by The College Baseball Foundation. Auten played in 60 of NM State's 61 games and had the second-highest batting average at .365 (eighth in WAC), while coming up a team-high 92 hits and 24 doubles. His 24 doubles ranked third in the WAC in 2008. Auten finished the 2008 season with a 21 game hitting streak, was the longest for any Aggie, which started April 20 against Fresno State. He also led the squad in multi-hit games with 26. In 16 of those games he came up with at least two hits, while he had three hits in seven games and four hits in three games, which was also the most on the team. Auten had 14 games with multiple RBI and was fourth on the team in slugging percentage (.579), second in on-base percentage (.452), tied for third in runs scored (62) and fourth in home runs (8). In season opener against New Orleans (2/22) Auten went 2-of-6 at the plate with his first bomb of the year and crossed the plate twice. In the series finale, UNO (2/24) put up three more runs in the top of the sixth to take a 14-13 lead, then Aggies' first baseman hit a three-run bomb over the centerfield wall. That home run gave back the lead to NMSU, 16-14, but NM State eventually fell 19-17. Auten blasted a three-run shot over the wall in game three of the series against Ball State (3/1) and followed that with a 4-of-8 day at the dish with three runs scored, although NM State dropped the game 26-25. In the first of nine meetings with eventual national champion Fresno State (3/10), Auten was 3-of-6 with a double and three RBI to lead the Aggies to a 13-8 come-from-behind win. He was a key factor in the opening series of conference play as he was 2-for-6 with two RBI against San Jose State (3/21). Versus Texas-Pan American (3/28), Auten was 3-of-4 with an RBI double to right-centerfield, while scoring twice to guide NM State to a 12-2 victory. When the Aggies got back into conference play, Auten stepped up his play and went 2-of-5 with two doubles and two RBI against WAC foe Nevada (4/4), helping his team to a 6-4 win. On the very next day, Auten scored the first run of the day when he hit a blast over the left field wall to put his team up 1-0 in the top of the second over the Wolf Pack (4/5). In Honolulu (4/12), Auten got his team on the board first with an RBI single up the middle and added a solo home run to push NM State to a 9-3 win in game one of a double-header. As the Aggies took on the eventual National Champions in Fresno, Calif. (5/3), Auten had a field-day at the plate as he was 4-of-5 in the box with two doubles and scoring twice to lead his squad to a 12-7 win. In Honolulu, he was 3-for-5 at the plate in the second game of the double-header against the Rainbows (5/10) although the Aggies fell. He had a repeat 3-of-5 day against Louisiana Tech (5/16), however, he had a season-high five RBI leading NM State to a 14-11 victory at Presley Askew. It was in that game that Auten hit his 10th home run of the year. He had another 3-of-5 day against the Bulldogs (3/17) with two doubles and two runs scored but it wasn't enough as the Aggies lost 7-6.
Junior College: Auten played baseball for the Saddleback College Gauchos in Mission Viejo, CA in 2007. There Auten compiled a .393 batting average, scored 34 runs, had 37 runs batted-in, slugged .558, and hit 11 doubles and five home runs. He was selected for the 1st Team All-League in the Orange Empire Conference.
High School: Auten was a multi-sport athlete during high school as he played baseball, football and basketball. He made the 1st team All-Frontier League, All CIF, All Los Angeles County, and All-Los Angeles Times and helped his team to four straight league championships. In 2004 he hit .476, 9 home runs, 11 doubles, and drove in 48 RBI.
Personal: Auten is the son of Michael Auten and Jennifer Ramseyer and was born in Van Nuys, Calif. He is a finance major.
