The Auburn Tigers continued to swing the bats well in an 8-2 victory over Eastern Illinois on a chilly March 3 afternoon at Plainsman Park.
After scoring a combined 24 runs in the first two games of the series, it looked as if Auburn's bats may have cooled off with the weather in the deciding game, but it just took them a bit longer to get warmed up. Auburn lost Friday's game 10-11, yet turned around on Saturday to win by a score of 14-7.
After a fairly uneventful three and a half innings, Auburn cracked the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth. Center fielder Ryan Tella led off the inning with a single to right field and scored the game's first run on third baseman Damek Tomscha's hit-and-run double to left field.
A ground ball to Eastern Illinois shortstop Tyler Schweigert looked as if it would get the Panthers out of the inning, but an errant throw pulled second baseman Nathan Sopena off of the bag. However, the ball found its way back to Schweigert, who redeemed himself and ended the inning on a 6-4-3 double play.
Auburn starting pitcher Rocky McCord was a little shaky with his command in the early innings, but settled down to successfully retire the Panthers as the game progressed. He threw a career long six innings, giving up no runs on three hits and striking out a career-high six batters.
"Rocky certainly has the ability to go out there," said head coach John Powlowski. "I thought he did a good job getting deeper into the game, which is important to him, and obviously very important for our team."
McCord was also reassured by his performance in saying, "I just needed a win under my belt. Just one good game to get me kicking, and I think today should do that."
The Tigers ran Eastern Illinois starting pitcher Andrew Grahn out of the game in the fifth inning. Grahn threw 71 pitches in four plus innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on five hits.
Auburn second baseman Jordan Ebert continued the hot start to his collegiate baseball career and extended his hit streak to nine games. The Tigers continued their scoring in the fifth and sixth innings, putting up three runs in each, and McCord continued to keep Eastern Illinois bats quiet.
"I'm just soaking it in right now," Ebert said. "I'm just trying to help this team win games and it's been a lot of fun so far."
They took a 7-0 lead into the seventh-innings stretch and added one more run in the bottom of the inning as a slew of Eastern Illinois relief pitchers failed to keep the Tigers off of the bases.
Relief pitcher Trey Cochran-Gill did an admirable job coming in for McCord, but exited the game after a Dane Sauer single to left-center field led off the ninth.
In an odd series of events, pitcher Chase Williamson entered the game from the dugout rather than the bullpen. The Panthers evaded the shutout with three consecutive singles and cut the lead to 8-2. Pitcher Matt Schultz came into the game for the final out and closed out the game and the series.
Auburn improved its record to 8-3 on the season and will take on Alabama in the Capital City Classic in Montgomery at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
"Having the momentum going into this Alabama game is awesome," Ebert said. "We want that game bad, and to have this momentum is great for our team."
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