Auburn baseball sweeps the series against Rhode Island

Auburn baseball showed dominance in all three phases over the weekend, sweeping the 4-game series against the visiting Rhode Island Rams by a combined score of 49-3.

Auburn pitchers dominated Rhode Island to the tune of 46 strikeouts in 34 innings, with only seventeen hits and three runs allowed. Auburn hitters went .362 against the Rams, with 27 walks and 28 strikeouts. Auburn’s defense did not allow an error and made several highlight-reel-worthy plays in the field, limiting the damage of Rhode Island’s seventeen total hits.

After six games in six days, Head Coach Butch Thompson was happy for the brief break before Tuesday’s matchup in Huntsville against Tennessee Tech but also pleased with what his team brought to the ballpark for the weekend: “I think we talked about consistency, and the thing we've done the most consistently is play defense," Thompson said. "We did that this entire week and for really the entire season. That model of consistency showed up in every facet and allowed us to have success. We undervalue being able to play catch and dominate routine plays. That’s what really good ball clubs do. We’ve played enough consistent defense and I”m building a lot of confidence in that. That model of consistency showed up in every facet and allowed us to have success.”

Friday night started off with JUCO Transfer Jordan Armstrong on the mound for Auburn, but an inability to blend any of his other pitches with the fastball and getting behind batters led to two hits and a run in the 1st, setting the theme of 1st inning struggles for this Auburn pitching staff over the weekend. After a solo shot in the 2nd and a bases-loaded jam in the 3rd, senior lefty Carson Skipper came in and partnered with Blake Burkhalter to hold Rhode Island scoreless over the final six innings. Skipper showed off his plus fastball and plus changeup, but added in an improved curveball with a lower release point that he featured more heavily than in past outings, and earned the win with four innings of three-hit, no-run ball with four strikeouts. Offensively, Kason Howell and Bryson Ware both had three-hit evenings, combining for three runs and an RBI, while Sonny DiChiara added two hits, one of which was a towering home run, and two RBIs.

Using your two best bullpen arms in the 1st game of a four-game series is normally a cause for concern, something Thompson was all too aware of after the game. “We spent some bullets tonight. We’ll see what happens. There are two games tomorrow, so that’ll be interesting. It’ll force somebody to have to step up on the mound. We need to find somebody that could finish a game, and in all honesty, I’m not sure we’ve identified who could finish a game like that. We’ve tried it a couple of times without him (Burkhalter) and it hadn’t been the same. Looks like an opportunity’s coming for somebody to finish.” No such opportunity came on Saturday. The offense scored 28 runs across both games of the doubleheader while holding Rhode Island to zero.

Righty Joseph Gonzalez, starting game two, loaded the bases in the first inning before a double play erased the threat and ended the inning. From that point, he cruised through 6.2 innings with eight strikeouts, both career highs. His velo was good, throwing 91 on his fastball and turning in a performance (after the first) reminiscent of his excellent start in Arlington, TX versus a ranked Texas Tech squad. Offensively, Auburn scored in six straight innings to open the game, led by Blake Rambusch’s ambush of a full-count changeup for a solo shot to open the bottom of the 1st for Auburn. Brooks Carlson and Ryan Dyal both hit their first home runs of the year, and ultimately seven of the nine starters recorded a hit.

If Joseph Gonazalez was on auto-pilot after the 1st inning, Trace Bright had a self-driving car. The 6’4, 199 lb righty from Montgomery cruised through six innings of eight strikeout ball in game three, not allowing a single hit until a one-out single in the fifth. He’s now thrown 17 innings on the season in three starts, with one run allowed on six hits and nineteen strikeouts. Thompson continues to be impressed with the improvement and self-confidence Bright has shown in his three outings this season. “He came out in the first really believing in his fastball, and that’s about as good as I remember in a while. It was clean and he was doing everything he wanted to do. It was a pretty high level of pitching. He wasn’t just throwing and beating bats. It was exciting to see and, regardless of opponent, that was his best execution in a start, an outing, of his Auburn career. It was great.”

Offensively, Auburn scored nine in the first inning, sending fourteen players to the plate before the inning was over. Catcher/Outfielder Ryan Dyal, starting the 2nd consecutive game in left field, continued his hot Saturday with two hits, including a double, in game two. “He’s one of our best guys, and it’s starting to show.” Dyal partially gave credit to the recent expansion of his duties to include left field, claiming “it’s really helping my body, too. Keeping me a lot more athletic and a lot more fresh. I like doing both of them.”

Sunday’s game four was an opportunity, similar to how Mason Barnett’s bullpens were pointed towards a start last Wednesday against UAB, for Hayden Mullins to get a start in prior to SEC play. The junior lefty got in trouble in the first, thanks to a single and two walks, but struck out the final Rhode Island batter on four pitches to end the threat. Mullins ultimately worked three scoreless innings, allowing only one hit and racking up five strikeouts.

Again, the offense got to work early, with catcher Jakle Wyandt hitting a three-run homer to left field in the 2nd to start the scoring for Auburn. Rhode Island’s sole run came off of freshman reliever Parker Carlson, who entered for Mullins in the 4th and worked three innings, with two hits, one walk, and four strikeouts to earn the win. Lefty Tommy Sheehan entered the game to start the seventh and gave Auburn three innings of scoreless relief, allowing no hits with only one walk to go with his five strikeouts.

After the game, Sheehan was pleased with his performance. “I was just trying to stay loose and do what I know I can do," Sheehan said. "I know I can be in the zone and be effective. I think it was a good improvement from the last two outings." Having Sheehan back in action and stretched out towards a starter’s workload is going to give Thompson multiple options to start a game, something appreciated after injuries hit the Auburn starting rotation pretty hard last season. “We’re closing in a couple weeks from SEC play. We’ve got a lot of guys who are ready to help.”

Offensively, the MVP of the series was Dyal. On the weekend, the redshirt sophomore catcher was 6-12 with six runs scored, three doubles, two home runs, and ten RBIs while starting one game behind the plate and three in the outfield. Given the large margins, Auburn was able to empty the benches and get playing time to most of the roster, with several games seeing seven or eight position players substituted by the late innings. INF/DH Cam Hill & INF Brooks Carlson both got their first starts of the season over the weekend, while reserves Brody Moss and Mike Bello both recorded their first RBIs, and Garrett Farquhar, Brooks Carlson, and Jake Wyandt hit the first home runs of their Auburn careers.

The only cause for concern coming out of the weekend is the health of slugging first baseman (and fan favorite) Sonny DiChiara. He bruised his heel running down the line to beat a throw to first in Saturday’s game 2, and after having the foot and ankle taped, aggravated the injury in Game 3 making a basket catch in foul ground and rolling onto the tarp. He was removed for precautionary reasons and remains day-to-day, with doctors believing there’s no significant injury.

Auburn, now 11-2, heads to Huntsville for a game against Tennessee Tech at Toyota Field, home of the Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas, before returning home for a three-game series this upcoming weekend against Middle Tennessee.