Auburn baseball had 14 hits and used eight pitchers in a 6-0 victory over Troy on Tuesday night.
"When you run eight guys out there, there's a chance somebody is not going to be on their game," said head coach Sunny Golloway. "For all eight of them to throw the ball well was very surprising. We told them all, 'Hey don't worry about the score, go out there and record three outs.'"
Daniel Koger got his first start on the mound this season and started off the game strong with a 1-2-3 first inning.
In the bottom of the first, Ryan Tella hit an RBI double to score Jordan Ebert, who also reached on base with a one-out double. Two batters later, Daniel Robert hit a two-out RBI single to score Tella and make it 2-0.
Koger kept it going with an eight-pitch 1-2-3 second inning, which earned him his first win of the season.
Auburn's offense also kept it going in the bottom of the second with back-to-back one-out base hits by Brett Binning and Damon Haecker, which caused the first Troy pitching change. With runners on the corners Ebert hit an RBI single to score Binning. Tella then put down a perfect bunt for a hit to load the bases for Blake Austin. But Austin grounded out into a double play to end the inning.
Jacob Milliman came on to pitch the third replacing Koger. Milliman went on to pitch one scoreless inning with one strikeout and one hit given up.
Robert led off the bottom of the third with a double and Keegan Thompson advanced him to third with a sacrifice bunt. After Connor Short's infield single, Anfernee Grier hit an RBI single to bring home Robert. Troy got the next two batters out to escape the third inning with only one run allowed.
Auburn kept giving their bullpen work as Justin Camp pitched a 1-2-3 fourth inning.
Tella hit another double in the bottom of the fourth but was left stranded on base.
Michael O'Neal came on to pitch the fifth and allowed a one-out double and single but got out of the inning scoreless.
Robby Clements then came on in the sixth and kept it scoreless while only allowing one hit.
Tella continued his 4-for-5 night with a two-RBI single scoring Binning and Haecker to make it 6-0 going into the seventh inning.
Trey Wingenter pitched the seventh inning and kept the shutout alive, despite throwing Auburn's first walk of the game.
Trey Cochran-Gill threw a walk and gave up a single to start off the eighth inning. He then was able to force a groundout and double play to continue to keep Troy off the scoreboard.
Terrance Dedrick clinched the 6-0 shutout win with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
Auburn will play in Tuscaloosa this weekend in a three game series against Alabama. "Success brings fun and we had fun tonight," Tella said. "We've just got to bring that tomorrow and then we go over to play Alabama at their place. It was a good feeling tonight for all of us."
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