Cal Baseball: Andrew Vaughn Heats Up as the Chicago White Find Their Stride

The Chicago White Sox will take a three-game win streak into Friday’s road series opener against the reigning American League champion Houston Astros.

The White Sox won 93 games a year ago but under-achieved most of the first third of this season. They have climbed to 30-31 after a three-game sweep of Detroit in which they outscored the Tigers 27-6 and batted .398 as a team.

Former Cal star Andrew Vaughn was right in the middle of things, with multiple hits in all three games. He batted 9 for 14 for a .643 average in the series.

“He is so impressive,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa told the Chicago Sun-Times after Vaughn's four-hit game on Tuesday. “He doesn’t throw at-bats away, and if you’re a hungry hitter looking for hits, those guys are very productive in this league.”

After his second four-hit game in a month, Vaughn said he wasn’t stressing when he came to the plate for the fifth time.

“Putting good swings on it and running as fast as I can,” he said. “It’s in the back of your mind, you’re 4-for-4, it’s all over the scoreboard, you see it but you have take it at-bat by at-bat.

“I can’t go up there like, `I have to do this.’ You just got to be simple.”

Vaughn drew a walk on his fifth at-bat, getting on base for the fifth straight time.

His hot streak actually began far before the Detroit series, in which he played first base, right field and designated hitter.

The 24-year-old, now batting second in the White Sox lineup, is hitting .400 (23 for 53) over the past 14 games, with seven multiple-hit outings dating back to May 31.

During that stretch, Vaughn has hiked his season batting average from .267 to .315, which would rank sixth in the American League if he had 12 more plate appearances.

By comparison, Vaughn batted just .239 in the month of June a year ago. But he excelled in July of 2021, hitting .329 over the first 21 games of the month.

Now Vaughn and the White Sox get the chance to test themselves against a team that has played in three World Series the past five seasons.

The Astros are 39-24 and have a 9.5-game lead in the AL West. Both teams are off Thursday, then meet for the first time this season on Friday. They will be in the spotlight as ESPN's Sunday night game, with first pitch set for 4 p.m.

Cover photo of Andrew Vaughn by Rick Osentoski, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo

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