Auburn baseball defeats Samford and prepares to wrap the regular season at Kentucky
Auburn baseball (36-16, 15-11) clinched a 12-1 midweek record with an 8-4 victory over in-state Samford on Tuesday night at the Hoover Met, and now heads into the weekend series at Kentucky with a chance to lock down not only a Top 4 seed for next week’s SEC Tournament, but a Top 8 seed for the Field of 64. Head baseball coach Butch Thompson, speaking after the win, is glad his team isn’t looking ahead. “We haven't looked ahead. It's been mature, and I appreciate it. This is the mark of a good ballclub. We will worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. This was a good job with that mindset tonight.”
In the 8-4 victory, Auburn followed the recent pattern of the starting pitcher allowing some early runs before the bullpen mostly shutting things down the rest of the way. Auburn starter Jordan Armstrong, called on for the midweek after Mason Barnett moved to Friday nights to replace Hayden Mullins, was unable to get out of the first inning. A two-out single was followed by a walk, a hit-by-pitch, a two-run single, and another hit by pitch. That’s when pitching coach Tim Hudson made the change to reliever Carson Skipper, who struck out the Samford hitter to end the threat.
Auburn’s offense responded in the top of the 2nd with five runs, sending nine hitters to the plate and collecting five hits and a walk in the inning. Ultimately, all nine starters recorded a hit, including two from catcher Nate LaRue, the player of the game. LaRue finished the midweek with two hits, three RBIs, and yet another runner caught stealing, his 9th of the season in 12 stolen base attempts. “I was really just trying to let the ball travel and see it deep," LaRue said to AuburnTigers.com of his RBI single to start the scoring in the second. "I just got my hands inside on (one) that was middle-in."
For the bullpen, a two-out home run in the 9th off of closer Blake Burkhalter in a non-save situation broke a streak of 22 scoreless innings thrown by the bullpen, dating through the Alabama series, originating in the 7th inning of last Tuesday’s midweek matchup at Troy. Auburn used six relievers to cover the final eight and a third innings of the game, something that was by design. Owing to the rain-shortened series against Alabama, some key relievers haven’t appeared in over a week or haven’t gotten a lot of work: Blake Burkhalter, who dealt with a hamstring injury suffered at Tennessee, had only pitched twice in the previous seventeen days. Carson Skipper wasn’t called upon in games one or two against Alabama; the plan was to use him in relief of Joseph Gonzalez in game three before that game was delayed by weather and ultimately ruled a no-contest.
Skipper didn’t appear rusty when he finally got on the mound for his first competitive appearance in nine days: He struck out the first batter he faced with two outs and bases loaded in the first on four pitches, and ultimately gave Auburn 2.1 innings of 3-hit, scoreless ball with no walks and four strikeouts. After Carson Swilling delivered a scoreless inning, Chase Isbell eventually loaded the bases thanks to three walks, and freshman John Armstrong came in to stem the damage. He did so beautifully, striking out the Samford batter on three pitches and ultimately facing only the minimum over two and a third innings, his third straight scoreless outing since returning to the bullpen after his seven weeks “in the garage”. The only hit allowed, a bunt single, was erased via double play.
Auburn, bucking the national trend late in the season, decided not to cancel this midweek matchup to protect their RPI and made the trip to Hoover. This was partially an integrity matter - Auburn committed to this matchup before the season and it was ultimately the right thing to do - but it was also a strategic decision by Thompson to give his team a chance to acclimate to the spacious dimensions of the Hoover Met before next week’s SEC Tournament. “That's kind of the design of the whole deal," Thompson said. "You drive into town and take batting practice on the auxiliary field. Then you come up and see the stadium and take infield and outfield on it. It's kind of a zoo during the tournament. You only have about 20 minutes and the next game starts. This whole design is: We've played a game here. We've gotten the lay of the land. It should be to our advantage. It's important to us. It's another way to get a good feel for the routine for next week."
Postseason Awards - How I voted
The National College Baseball Writers Association (of which I am a member) sent out All-American ballots for the first round of voting. Four Auburn Tigers: 1B Sonny DiChiara, 3B Blake Rambusch, SP Joseph Gonzalez, and RP Blake Burkhalter, were among the nominees. Here is how I voted, in alphabetical order:
Catcher (choose five)
Troy Claunch, Texas A&M
Dominic Keegan, Vanderbilt
Kevin Parada, GT
Daniel Susac, Arizona
Logan Tanner, Mississippi State
First Base (choose five)
Michael Carico, Davidson
Sonny DiChiara, Auburn
Tim Elko, Ole Miss
Andrew Jenkins, Georgia Tech
Ivan Melendez, Texas
Second Base (choose five)
Cade Doughty, LSU
Jace Jung, Texas TEch
Quinn McDaniel, Maine
Myles Nicholson, UMBC
RJ Yeager, Mississippi State
Shortstop (choose five)
Trey Faltine, Texas
Jacob Gonzalez, Ole Miss
Brad Malm, UAlbany
Tanner Schobel, Virginia Tech
Cody Schrier, UCLA
Third Base (choose five)
Chase Estep, Kentucky
Jake Gelof, Virginia
Trey Lipscomb, Tennessee
Blake Rambusch, Auburn
Max Wagner, Clemson
Outfield (choose eight)
Chris Alleyne, Maryland
Jason Bottari, UAlbany
Enrique Bradfield Jr, Vanderbilt
Gavin Cross, Virginia Tech
Chase DeLauter, JMU
Jack Hurley, Virginia Tech
Joe Lampe, Arizona State
Colby Thomas, Mercer
Designated Hitter (choose four)
Hunter Hines, Mississippi State
Brayden Jobert, LSU
Jack Payton, Louisville
Tommy White, NC State
Utility (choose four)
Jordan Hamberg, Coppin State
Cameron Jones, Georgia State
Devin Ortiz, Virginia
Shemar Page, Grambling
Starting Pitchers (choose eight)
Drew Beam, Tennessee
Chase Burns, Tennessee
Chase Dollander, Tennessee
Joseph Gonzalez, Auburn
Cooper Hjerpe, Oregon State
Alex Hoppe, UNCG
Parker Messick, Florida State
Carson Palmquist, Miami
Relief Pitchers (choose six)
Will Bryan, Eastern Kentucky
Blake Burkhalter, Auburn
Jack Gowen, Georgia
Ben Joyce, Tennessee
Brady Tygart, Arkansas
Andrew Walkters, Miami
Up next for Auburn
Auburn wraps the regular season with a three game set this Thursday through Saturday in Lexington, KY versus the Kentucky Wildcats (28-23, 10-17). Game one is Thursday at 5:30 CT and Friday’s game two at 5:30 CT, with Saturday’s finale being on Saturday at 1:00. All three games are available for streaming on SEC Network+, and the radio call with Voice of the Tigers Andy Burcham and producer Brad Law can be heard locally on 93.9FM and online at AuburnTigers.com.