Fresh off a weekend series win over Alabama, No. 11 Auburn picked up right where they left off Wednesday, defeating Alabama State 22-0 in five innings as the Tigers improved to 28-6 on the season.
Freshman Chardonnay Harris did not allow a baserunner in three innings and had four strikeouts in just her second career start. Ashlee Swindle and Kara Bilodeau each pitched shutout innings to maintain the shutout as the Tigers gave up just one hit on the night. Auburn head coach Mickey Dean was quick to praise his pitchers' performance.
"Think about those pitchers," Dean said. "Those three are having to pitch behind potentially two All-Americans and they never get game time. They are always out here doing their job and making our hitters better. This was their opportunity to go out there and perform."
Victoria Draper tied Auburn's single-season steals record with her 33rd stolen base and Justus Perry hit two third-inning home runs to become the first player in school history to homer twice in the same inning.
"Lately I've been swinging at a lot of pitches that weren't in my zone," Perry said. "I think just working on staying in my zone is something that I realized tonight that helped."
Auburn jumped out to an 8-0 lead after the first inning and would go on to add five runs in the second, and nine more in the third. Eighteen players got in the game for Auburn and 12 different Tigers had an RBI.
"For us, every day and every week is a learning experience for our hitters," Dean said. "This was good for them, they needed something like this where they knew if they were disciplined and stayed in their zone something good could happen."
Auburn will look to continue to their hot hitting this weekend when they host No. 19 Kentucky for a three-game series this weekend. Game one will be Friday at 6 p.m. CT at Jane B. Moore Field.
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