AUBURN, Ala. (EETV) – Auburn Baseball bounced back from midweek mercy-rule loss in a big way Friday night, defeating Kentucky 12-5 in game one.
Auburn’s persistent battles at the plate allowed for them to reach base early and often. The Tigers combined for 15 hits with five walks and reached on a HBP three times. This, in conjunction with a low strikeout rate, kept Kentucky’s defense on its heels the whole game, forcing mistakes and gnawing through bullpen arms.
The Tigers got off to an early lead in the bottom of the first with leadoff man Bristol Carter drawing a walk and advancing to second on an errant pickoff attempt, setting the table for a six-run inning. Chase Fralick then immediately shot a ball in the left center gap to start the scoring, followed by two more RBI singles from Eddie Madrigal and Brandon McCraine.
Auburn kept the rally going, taking advantage of some sloppy play from the Wildcats and stealing another run off a wild pitch.
“You know, we have hitters left and right, and we have talent up and down our lineup, and in our dugout,” Madrigal said. “We have a lot of great pieces, and when everything clicks, I think we’re hard to beat. That was kind of the message over the last couple of days from our staff.”
The offense stayed hot the next two innings with a string of singles capped by a two-RBI knock from Ethan Bingaman in the second. Auburn took advantage of more bad baseball from the Wildcats in the third inning, with Brandon McCraine scoring on another wild pitch after doubling and advancing to third on an error during the play. These errors kept the Tigers' offense at the plate, allowing Auburn to rack up more hits and another RBI via a Bub Terrell sacrifice fly.
Andreas Alvarez continued to be the game-one starter for the Tigers, going 6.0 innings and allowing two runs on three hits and five strikeouts. Alvarez did get himself into a bases-loaded jam in the third induced by a single and two walks, but was able to minimize the damage to just two runs thanks to some standout defense by third baseman Eric Guevara and Terrell showing off his arm by gunning down the third out at home.
The Tigers showed a lot of heart and hustle after what was a shocking loss earlier in the week to Jacksonville State. Nine of Auburn's 12 runs on the night came with two outs, a sign of an angry team refusing to give up.
“Seven strikeouts, we cut that in half from Tuesday," head coach Butch Thompson said. “So a few more balls were put into play and that’s something good to happen for us. That was good to see tonight. We got five guys with multiple hits. So that’s a majority of your lineup getting multiple hits.”
With this explosive performance from Auburn’s hitters, the Tigers have put themselves in a good spot for the rest of the weekend. Kentucky had to use seven arms in the game, hurting their bullpen for the remainder of the weekend. While a few pitchers threw less than 15 pitches, it is always difficult to know how a player will handle short rest.
Auburn, on the other hand, only needed four arms on the evening thanks to Alvarez bouncing back from his 30 pitch 3rd to dominate the fourth, fifth and sixth. Closer Ryan Hetzler was used, but only threw four pitches.
Reliever Jett Johnston faced the most trouble, giving up a string of singles followed by a double to give the Wildcats a three-run 7th. LJ Cormier was then called upon in the seventh to limit the damage and pitched into the eighth, where Hetzler would take over after allowing back-to-back singles to start the frame.
The wins puts the Tigers in an excellent position for the weekend entering Game 2, which is scheduled for Saturday, April 12, at 7 p.m. CDT in Plainsman Park.
