Auburn baseball stays hot in home opener vs. Troy
AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn came out swinging in their first home game of 2022 as the Tigers defeated Troy, 13-1, Wednesday night at Plainsman Park.
Coming off 12 runs on 13 hits Sunday vs. Kansas State, the offense one-upped its performance from the weekend, scoring 13 runs on 13 hits in front of a crowd of 3,759, the largest Opening Day crowd since 2013.
“The offense is just going to have to link up and play ball together,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “It was good to see (Bryson) Ware and then Sonny (DiChiara) have some good at-bats.”
Ware and DiChiara, who each homered in the contest, combined to drive in 10 of the 13 runs. Ware started the onslaught with a first-inning grand slam and drove in a career-best six runs in the contest.
“I got down to two strikes pretty quick. I was looking to put something in play, not trying to do too much, and I put a good swing on it and it worked out for us,” Ware said.
Five of the nine Auburn starters collected multiple hits, including three from Blake Rambusch and two from Cole Foster and Brody Moore to go along with DiChiara and Ware. Rambusch went on a stretch of going 6-for-his-last-8 and DiChiara reached in eight of nine trips to the plate since last Sunday.
Hayden Mullins (1-1, 6.75) pitched two scoreless innings in relief of starting pitcher Tommy Sheehan and earned the win for the Tigers. Mullins struck out a pair and allowed just one hit.
“I think tonight was a lot better, just controlling the baseball and really getting in the zone,” Mullins said.
Troy (4-1) put some pressure on Auburn early in the first inning. Sheehan issued back-to-back walks to start his outing for the Tigers, but the graduate lefty settled down to minimize the Troy damage to one run in the first and ultimately retired the next seven Trojans he faced. Sheehan worked three innings and allowed only one run on one hit.
Auburn (3-1) answered right back in the home half of the first as Ware hit a two-out grand slam to left field, marking the first of his career and the team's first since March 6, 2021.
DiChiara added to the lead with some fireworks of his own, blasting a three-run, 434-foot home run to extend the lead to 7-1 in the second. In the past two games, DiChiara has reached base eight times out of his nine plate appearances.
The Tigers' offense struck again in the fourth. Rambusch started the inning with a single and quickly moved up to third after a wild pitch and stolen base. DiChiara delivered on the run-scoring chance with a deep sacrifice fly that plated Rambusch. Auburn was in scoring position once again when Ryan Dyal was hit with a pitch and Moore followed with a single. A wild pitch moved both runners up, and Ware lined a two-RBI single
Rambusch started the game 3-for-3 and went on a stretch of going 6-for-his-last-8 dating back to the start of the Kansas State game Sunday.
Auburn was not finished, pushing across three more runs in the bottom half of the sixth. After DiChiara led off with a double, Dyal drew a walk and Moore singled to right field to load the bases. Foster then cleared the bases with a double to deep left-center, extending Auburn’s lead to the eventual final of 13-1.
On the mound in relief of Mullins, Mason Barnett, Brooks Fuller, Parker Carlson, and Nate LaRue each turned in a scoreless inning of work. Carlson’s outing marked his Auburn debut and he set down the Trojans in order, recording his first career strikeout in the process.
As a pitching staff, Auburn has now surrendered just six runs (five earned) on 15 hits in the first four games of the year.
The Tigers will continue a stretch of 10 games in 12 days, hosting Yale for a three-game series Friday-Sunday at Plainsman Park.
This is a release from Auburn Athletics.