Auburn baseball wins an abbreviated series against Alabama

After an abbreviated two-game series sweep against rival Alabama, Auburn baseball is facing a short week and multiple road trips to lock in postseason seeding. Auburn is scheduled to play Samford at the Hoover Met on Tuesday night before turning around for a Thursday-Saturday series at Kentucky to close out the regular season.

Auburn defeated Alabama 3-2 on Friday night in Plainsman Park in an old-fashioned “pitching and defense” duel, with freshman pitcher John Armstrong earning his first career win and closer Blake Burkhalter notching his SEC-leading 13th save. Starters Mason Barnett for Auburn and Garrett McMillan went toe to toe for five-plus innings before both getting knocked out of the game in the sixth inning.

“Barnett matched McMillan, who was good. Really competitive; with two strikes he really took the sting out of swings.” explained head baseball coach Butch Thompson after the game. “Both starters got chased at the end of their outings.” Thompson was particularly pleased with the work of freshman John Armstrong, who has come back from a seven-week hiatus to give Auburn two outings in SEC play of 2+ innings and, ultimately, a win here in game one. “He didn’t act like a freshman. He was attacking the game and good things happened.”

Armstrong was excited that he was able to contribute. “It’s huge. The most important part is that we won. I was able to help my team out, put up a couple of zeros, hold them to no runs, and have us win.” When he was told that HE collected the win, the first of his college career, he wasn't even aware of the designation. “Yeah, I didn’t even think about it. I guess I did, huh? I didn’t think about it. I didn’t even realize I did that, but that’s pretty cool.”

Offensively, the difference in the game was Auburn’s ability to respond, and a lot of that came back to the clutch hitting of Brooks Carlson. He pulled a grounder down the right-field line in the 6th, scoring Cole Foster from 2nd and knocking McMillan out of the game. “I know it was pretty ugly, but it did the job. I was just trying to get a ball, hit it to the right side, and get the guy over,” explained Carlson after the game. “Just short and sweet. I saw the ball deep - maybe a little too deep - but it worked. I did the job. I’m glad to help my team win.” Thompson reiterated how crucial those “ugly” hits have been, “Those have been his clutches right there - I think of A&M, I think of LSU, tonight - they’ve been backside right there. And that’s just as soon as he sees the ball off the bat and that’s been clutch, he’s done that before.”

The ugliness continued to open Saturday’s game two – Auburn starter Trace Bright only lasted one inning, giving up four earned runs on four hits, two walks, and a wild pitch. The 4-0 deficit was not insurmountable, however. Auburn’s bullpen covered eight scoreless innings with only two total hits and one walk allowed, and Auburn’s offense battled back to win game two 6-4. Notre Dame transfer Tommy Sheehan was the first out of the bullpen to replace Bright and pitched four scoreless innings on short notice with only two total baserunners allowed, via one walk and one hit. Facing only two batters over the minimum, the lefty struck out four and kept Auburn’s deficit manageable so the offense could get to work. Bobby Pierce sparked the comeback with a solo home run in the 4th, and as Carson Swilling covered the 6th and 7th innings (and got the win), Pierce provided insurance in the 7th with an RBI single and then, after advancing from 1st to 3rd on a single to left-center by Brooks Carlson, came around to score on a wild pitch to cement the lead at two. Chase Allsup handled the last two innings with one hit and two strikeouts, taking advantage of an 8th inning double play to face the minimum for his 2nd save of the season.

Thompson was pleased with the way his team handled the adversity. "We had a tough start but maintained good composure. It took a long time for us to get back in the ballgame, but those fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh innings we linked up to score a run every inning.” Thompson was particularly impressed with the bullpen’s efforts in game two. “Only four baserunners reached the last eight innings," Thompson added. "Our pitching staff just grinded through trying to get us back in this ballgame. Tommy Sheehan, the job he was asked to do and knew what he had to do without saying a word. It’s like ‘you better chew some innings here,’ because there’s not a coach in our league that wants to take the starter out after one inning.” Thompson went on to praise the rest of the bullpen. “Carson Swilling came in and really mixed his pitches before turning it over to Chase Allsup. This was Allsup's moment. We had Burkhalter ready to go, but we ended up not needing him."

Game three started off as a pitcher’s duel before getting tense as the weather rolled in. Starting 20 minutes late due to a lightning delay, starters Joseph Gonzalez and Grayson Hitt kept it scoreless until the 5th inning, when Alabama scored a run off of back-to-back doubles. Auburn responded in the bottom of the 5th with a Nate LaRue single, a hit and run by Garrett Farquhar moving him to 3rd, and then a safety squeeze by Brody Moore to tie the game. After Sonny DIChaira was intentionally walked and Blake Rambusch, batting third behind DiChiara, drew a walk of his own, Bobby Pierce came up with only one out. After getting the count to 2-2, Auburn’s Assistant Director of Athletics Events, Bob Grant, came out to alert the umpires that there was lightning in the 8-mile exclusion zone around Plainsman Park, necessitating a 30-minute delay. Continued lightning strikes and occasional rain delayed the game for 2+ hours, and after nearing the SEC-imposed 7:00 PM curfew for Sundays, the game was declared a no-contest and will not be made up.

In light of the cancellation, it’s worth looking at the SEC standings and projections for the SEC Tournament. According to the SEC office’s “Road to Hoover” release on Sunday night, Auburn currently holds the #4 seed for next week’s SEC Tournament – notable because the first four seeds hold an automatic bye for Tuesday’s single-elimination round. For the tournament, the two division champions are seeded #1 (Tennessee) and #2 (currently Texas A&M), based on conference winning percentage. After that, the seeding is based on conference winning percentage regardless of division, with Arkansas currently #3 (TAMU holds the tiebreaker over Arkansas due to their 2-1 series win), Auburn at #4 with a .577 winning percentage, and then seeds 5-7 being decided by some order of Georgia, LSU, and Vanderbilt after this upcoming weekend’s final round of games. Florida and Ole Miss are currently tied for the 8 and 9 seeds, with South Carolina at 10, Alabama at 11, and Kentucky at 12. Missouri and Mississippi State are currently projected to miss the tournament, which is notable because a defending CWS champion has not missed the postseason since Coastal Carolina won in 2016 and missed the 2017 postseason.

For those of you who plan to watch the out-of-town scoreboard this weekend, all Week 10 matchups are Thursday through Saturday. The matchups are as follows:

Auburn at Kentucky

LSU at Vanderbilt

Missouri at Georgia

Tennessee at Miss. State

Arkansas at Alabama

Texas A&M at Ole Miss

South Carolina at Florida

Auburn returns to action this Tuesday in Hoover, AL where they take on the Samford Bulldogs. Auburn won the previous meeting between these teams, 4-1, on Tuesday, April 12th in Plainsman Park. Tuesday’s game is not expected to be televised, but the radio call with Voice of the Tigers Andy Burcham and producer Brad Law can be heard locally on 93.9 FM and online at auburntigers.com.