Takeaways from Auburn's upset victory over #1 LSU on Saturday night
Auburn defeated LSU 8-6 in game two of the "Tiger Bowl of Baseball" on Saturday night. Here's what you need to know about the contest:
We keep talking about the freebies
Auburn had the two biggest innings of the game, a three-run 4th and a four-run 6th. Both of them came courtesy of free baserunners.
Auburn drew five walks in the 4th, only getting one hit (a Bobby Peirce single) but scoring three runs. Auburn's approaches were almost immaculate - LSU's starter, Ty Floyd, was having trouble throwing strikes, so most Auburn hitters went up there and let him walk them in. After Ike Irish led off with a walk and Peirce singled, four of the next five hitters drew walks before LSU's new pitcher was able to draw a strikeout out of Chris Stanfield.
"An amazing competitive spirit," said Butch Thompson after the game. "I thought we absolutely competed."
That Peirce single - 2-2 count and he sends a ground ball through the right side to send Irish to third - was identified by Thompson as a turning point of the game for Auburn's offense.
"It turned the whole game for us. Offensively, we'd been a day plus three innings there, spinning in a circle. [...] We needed someone to have an at-bat the other way, with two strikes, and absolutely commit to something. And it was a breaking ball up, but he had the approach locked in the other way and I thought the at-bats got better from that one."
Auburn later added to the lead with the big 6th inning, which began with - what else - back to back walks to threaten LSU's pitching with the need for perfect execution. Auburn plated four runs on three hits (and two walks, a sac fly, and a HBP) to take a lead that they wouldn't relinquish.
Bryson Ware continues to shine
Will Cannon, in the game to start the 7th, gave up a leadoff homerun to reduce the lead to two runs.
Bryson Ware had something to say about that.
The senior third baseman sent one 388 ft over the left field wall to put Auburn back to a three-run lead, as well as cementing his MLB Draft hopes to the various scouts in attendance with his 19th home run of the season (20 home runs or 20 steals are common "milestone" stats for MLB Draft-eligible college players). If you've watched Auburn play this season, a "Bryson Bomb" feels inevitable.
It wasn't that way for him.
"Scouting report on him was "he's gonna throw a lot of breaking balls". Uh, first four pitches I got were fastballs. [Referring back to his thought process] I know he's gonna make a mistake at some point, so I'm gonna try and battle as much as I can. Thankfully he hung one and got just enough of the plate where I could get enough barrel on it to get it out of here."
He went on to explain the lesson he was trying to express to his teammates, "He made a mistake. I don't care how good of a pitcher it is - they're going to make mistakes, and we just have to make the most of it when we get that opportunity."
The pitching came through yet again
Thompson was pleased with all of the pitchers that went out there for Auburn to key the upset over the #1 team in the nation, and it all comes back to his starter.
"I thought Tommy Vail was maybe...challenged a little bit more. He did have some strikeouts and stuff, but I thought he was fighting the whole time. They had four guys on base every other inning, it felt like, and I thought his competitive spirit locked us in."
Tommy Vail finished four innings with six hits, two runs (one earned) and one walk to eight strikeouts on eighty-six pitches (fifty-seven strikes).
The biggest thing for Auburn's pitching, as much as Thompson doesn't like to refer to it like this, was the process:
"We threw a lot of fastballs tonight with conviction. Not perfect, but it's absolutely growing and getting better. [...] There was a lot of gamesmanship that we're starting to see. If I'm talking about moderate growth with our pitching staff, I think I'm talking about Crotchfelt coming in there in a competitive moment, throwing all fastballs. I finally got Will Cannon to stop trying to throw the ball as hard as he can and (the last strikeout) was not a change-up and not a fastball: He just said 'I'm gonna ease off a fastball, just enough, to get him off.' Those are the texturing and things in that next level of what I think, what I hope I'm starting to see before maybe the world sees it."
Cannon finished off the final three innings with two hits, two runs allowed, and two walks to three strikeouts to collect the save, his sixth. He notched all three strikeouts in the 9th inning, and I asked him about what changed:
"I would say not having my changeup tonight. It kind of hurt me a little bit, but my slider was really, really good tonight. And so I needed to mix in my fastball, throw a little slower at some point, and so just mixing those pitches, I feel like I kept them a little more off balance."
The late start time
Moving the game to an 8PM start allowed for a few things: Graduation traffic to clear out, but also a pregame Eagle flight, the first in Plainsman Park history.
"That just created a whole spirit for the (night) and I just thought it was tremendous. Appreciate those people, and I think it absolutely brought extra people out, (between) the #1 team, the importance to our season, and that Eagle Flight, it absolutely created an unbelievable environment tonight" said Thompson.
What's next?
Auburn goes for the series win tomorrow at 1PM, with Auburn's Christian Herberholz facing off against LSU's Christian Little on SEC Network+. The radio call, with Andy Burcham and Brad Law, is available locally on 93.9FM, online at AuburnTigers.com, or on the Auburn Athletics App.
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