Keegan Thompson’s return is going just as planned.
Thompson (2-0) fired eight shutout innings, allowing just one hit to lead Auburn to a 7-0 victory Friday over Holy Cross at Plainsman Park. Corey Herndon finished the game for the Tigers throwing a scoreless ninth inning.
“We started the game well,” Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said. “The last couple of games we talked about just winning the first inning. Keegan got out of the first inning and then was about as efficient as it gets for college baseball. I enjoy watching him throw. He got eight innings. He keeps building the pitch count and just efficiency. Hopefully, he showed you a road map of how to compete. That was a beautiful outing by him.”
After giving up a double to the second batter of the game, Keegan responded by retiring 19 consecutive batters before a walk with two outs in the seventh. He sat down 24-of-27 hitters faced overall.
“I felt pretty good,” Keegan said. “I tried to work ahead, pound the zone and let the defense work behind me. We had two or three really good plays in the field to help me out a little bit, and it was good.”
"My breaking stuff was a little sharper today. I got swings and misses, put the ball in play early again and the defense made good plays."
The junior right-hander struck out six and ran his season-opening scoreless innings streak to 14 innings. He threw 90 pitches, 66 for strikes.
Bo Decker was 3-for-3 with two RBI, his third consecutive game with three hits. After starting the season 0-for-9, Decker now has nine hits in his last three games to raise his batting average to .522. Josh Anthony added two hits and a RBI.
Auburn (5-1) scored four in the first to take an early 4-0 lead. Daniel Robert plated Luke Jarvis on a single and Anthony scored Jay Estes on a sac fly to center. Dylan Ingram then doubled home Robert and a Decker’s base hit plated Ingram.
The Tigers added a run in the sixth when Jonah Todd scored on a wild pitch. Todd then drove home Anthony on a RBI triple in the eighth and came home himself on Decker’s sac fly one batter later.
Holy Cross starter Phil Reese (0-1) took with the loss as the Crusaders dropped to 0-2 on the season. Alex Gionis had the Crusaders hit.
Auburn and Holy Cross continue the series Saturday at 12 pm CST at Plainsman Park. Casey Mize (1-0) will be on the mound for the Tigers.
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