Auburn dominated Milwaukee, 8-3, in the NCAA Auburn Regional final Monday, as the Tigers used a 5-run sixth inning to defeat the Panthers. With the win, Auburn will host Ole Miss in the Super Regional next weekend, marking its sixth-ever appearance in a Super Regional.
Like Sunday night's game, it was Auburn’s offense that would get on the board first. At the bottom of the opening inning, singles by Chase Fralick, Chris Rembert, and Ethin Bingaman would get Fralick across the plate and Auburn its first run of the game.
After a quiet stretch of just over an inning, Fralick stepped up for his second at-bat of the game, and the crowd started to wake up. Fralick would get his 14th RBI of the weekend on a groundout to second base, driving in Eric Guevara, forcing Milwaukee’s offense to come back.
Milwaukee would indeed come back just an inning later, as John Hadley would score two runs with just one swing. Hadley’s swing would tie the game at two, but would also break up Auburn’s near 10-inning scoreless streak that crossed over the last two games.
One swing and two outs later, Jake Marciano would finish his outing, going four total innings, giving up six hits, and only two runs. Those two runs would be four fewer runs than his outing on Friday, in which he gave up six in just over an inning. After the game, Coach Butch Thompson was asked about Marciano’s bounce-back performance and what it showed.
Coach Thompson said, “[It showed] special winners, and we really saw the outings a second time for all these guys, really, what they look like for most of the year.”
In what almost looked like a repeat performance of Auburn’s second game against Milwaukee, an Auburn relief pitcher came in and pitched five dominant innings. In what Coach Thompson described as an MVP performance, Jackson Sanders finished the game, giving up only one run and just three hits, with one of those being Charlie Marion’s solo homer in the eighth.
Switching from dominant pitching to dominant offense, Auburn would go silent for two innings, just before blowing the game wide open in the sixth. Started by the weekend MVP Chase Fralick’s sixth regional homer, a Tiger onslaught would soon ensue. A couple of baserunners later, Bub Terrell would get his second hit of the regional, a double, to extend the lead to 4-2. A single and sac fly later, Auburn led 6-2, getting to the loudest it’s likely ever been, with a Mason McCraine RBI sending the record 8228 people into a frenzy.
With the homer from Fralick, he not only extended the regional program record, but also was the first player this decade to have two separate 5-game home run streaks in the same season. After the game, Fralick was asked what the accomplishment meant to him.
“That's pretty crazy,” Fralick said. “I mean, when I'm trying not to hit homers and trying to stay with my approaches, it happens, so I'm gonna keep with the same approach and keep going, and hopefully it rolls into next week.”
The teams would exchange runs late, but Sander’s eight total strikeouts would prove too much for the Panthers as the Tigers would finish out the regional championship. Auburn’s dominant three-game pitching run brings Auburn to its sixth total Super Regional and first-ever back-to-back home Super Regionals.
Auburn’s second-ever home Super Regional matchup will start on Friday, June 5, against Ole Miss. The full schedule for the supers will be released later this week, along with TV times and broadcasts.
