AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn baseball showed out in a big way for their last game of the series, taking down Nebraska 12-3 at Plainsman Park to grab their 11th straight regular-season home series. After falling short in the series opener and evening the series on Saturday, the Tigers never trailed on Sunday, dominating at home.
Auburn wasted no time getting momentum right off the bats. Eric Guevara got the Tigers on the board in the bottom of the first with an RBI single. However, the single run was just a tone-setter, as the Tigers' offense had far more on deck in the next frame.
The Auburn offense put up four runs in the second inning, jumping out to a 5-0 lead. Brandon McCraine hit a sacrifice fly to center to grow the lead before catcher Chase Fralick delivered the biggest swing of the afternoon. With two outs and two strikes, Fralick launched a three-run home run off the back wall to give his Tigers a commanding lead
“I saw a good pitch. I had a good count, got a good swing off and the ball went out,” Fralick said. “It’s been awesome. We have had a way better approach, a more refined approach, and had a better game plan going in and it showed in the last two games.”
On the mound, Auburn starter Alex Petrovic was able to continue his impressive start to the season. The right-hander was impressive once again, allowing just two runs. He also tossed an exceptional seven strikeouts on the day, continuing the early season trend of Auburn hurlers fanning opposing bats.
Nebraska was able to shrink the deficit with two runs in the fourth inning, but Auburn responded quickly. Lucas Steele slugged a run in with an RBI single in the bottom of the frame to build the lead to 6-2. Though, the Tigers still were not done adding to their strong lead.
Logan Gregorio smacked a two-run single to left field in the seventh inning to make it 8-2. After Nebraska was able to score a run on a fly ball, Auburn capitalized yet again offensively in the eighth. The Tigers got the bases loaded with two walks and added another run on a ground ball to further extend their lead to a final score of 12-3.
LJ Cormier pitched for two innings out of the bullpen to relieve Petrovic, Drew Whalen threw a scoreless eighth, and Ethin Bingaman made his pitching debut with a clean ninth to wrap up the win.
Auburn will host its next matchup on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CDT against the Samford Bulldogs in Plainsman Park.
