Auburn, Ala. (EETV) – The Auburn Tigers came into this weekend’s regional ready to defend their home field, as they have done so successfully this year. This year will be the third in the past four years that Auburn has hosted a regional, one of seven teams to do so. This year is a little different, though, as the Tigers finished as a top four seed and are eligible to host a super-regional if they advance. Auburn proved why they finished as a top-four team against Central Connecticut State on Friday, defeating the Blue Devils 9-5.
The story of the game was base runners, with men reaching early and often for both teams. There were 30 combined base runners in the first four innings alone. Central Connecticut State got their first three base runners in the top of the first inning, loading the bases for Cam Tilly. He got out of the jam after a lucky bounce off the backstop on a wild pitch resulted in the runner being out at the plate.
Then, in the bottom of the first, it was Auburn’s time to load the bases, but with better results. After two walks and a double by Ike Irish, Luke Steele would hit his first of two 100-mph-plus balls into the outfield that pushed the first run home. Eric Snow would follow that up by putting a ball into play and beating out the third baseman’s throw to score one more run. Bub Terrell would get the record-setting crowd up on its feet another time before the inning was over as he hit a hard grounder to right that would score two more and make the score 4-0 quickly.
The second inning was when Central Connecticut State would take advantage of its strong contact. Tilly would start the inning by loading the bases with a single and two walks before giving up another single to Falk, who scored two. Tilly was unable to record an out in the inning before Butch Thompson put in Carson Myers in relief. Myers would allow one run to finish the inning, as well as the inning after, before retiring four scoreless innings and racking up nine strikeouts along the way.
The Tigers would respond with four more runs in the bottom of the third. After leading off with Lucas Steele’s 430-foot homer that soared over the visitors bullpen, an error getting the ball into the infield after Terrell’s single would get the speedy Snow from first to home. A couple of pitches later, Plainsman Park almost went crazy again as Fralick hit a double that bounced off the wall in center, pushing Terrell to third with only one out. A single and a fielder’s choice would end the scoring run for the Tigers, but that’s all they needed to pull away from the Blue Devils 8-4. Terrell would add a third RBI of the game the next inning on a deep sacrifice fly, scoring Eric Snow’s earlier triple.
The offenses would then go quiet for both teams, primarily thanks to Carson Myers' nine strikeouts out of the bullpen, but the Blue Devils wouldn’t go silent in the eighth. After Parker Carlson’s entrance, Central Connecticut State would get back-to-back hits, scoring one, trying to crawl back against a cold Auburn offense. Carlson would shut down CCSU’s offense for the rest of the game as Auburn secured its first regional win in three years. After the game, Auburn Head Coach Butch Thompson credited Myers for being the difference.
"He got better and better each inning and I thought he was a huge difference in the ballgame,” Coach Thompson said, “And I thought he really pitched great tonight.”
Auburn will look for another performance like Carson’s tomorrow night against Stetson, who defeated NC State on the other side of the regional, 11-2. Tomorrow’s game against Stetson will be at 8 p.m. CDT and will be broadcast on ESPN+ and the Auburn Sports Network.
