A 4-1 win over UAB in Auburn baseball’s final home matchup of the season left Plainsman Park in content Tuesday night. Niko Buentello had two RBI and Daniel Sprinkle pitched 5.1 scoreless innings to lift Auburn over the Blazers.
“I am proud of Daniel Sprinkle tonight,” Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said. “ It was good for him to pitch so well.”
Buentello drove two runs home the first three innings to give Auburn a 2-1 lead. He brought in Melvin Gray on a single in the first, then plated Jordan Ebert on a double in the third to increase his season RBI total to 52.Gray also notched one RBI and two stolen bases.
Sprinkle’s 5.1 innings were hitless before he allowed a pair of singles. He was lifted with two men on and one unearned run allowed back in the first inning, but retired 12 in a row from the first through the fifth as he improved to 2-1.
Andrew Mitchell finished the game with 3.2 scoreless to pick up his first career save. He allowed one hit with four strikeouts.
“Andrew Mitchell grew a lot tonight,” said Thompson. “We got some offense tonight when we needed it. It’s a pretty good feeling to get a win in our last home game at Plainsman Park this season.”
The Tigers struck again in the seventh with Gray’s RBI single and Ebert’s sacrifice fly to set the final score of 4-1.
UAB’s Daniel Munger took the loss to fall to 0-2. He was one of six pitchers on the night used by the Blazers.
“We need to stay focused on this Vanderbilt series this weekend. We want to go out and win a game in that series as early as we can,” said Thompson. “We are going to see three great arms, but hopefully we can be competitive and give ourselves a chance to win this weekend.”
Auburn closes the 2016 regular season Thursday-Saturday in a three-game series at Vanderbilt.
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