With a spot in the regional championship on the line, Auburn turned to sophomore Casey Mize in need of a big start. Mize gave the Tigers everything they could have hoped for.
Mize fired his second complete game of the season as Auburn (37-24) defeated Tennessee Tech (41-20) 5-3 to earn a spot in the Tallahassee Regional championship.
Mize held the Golden Eagles to three runs on seven hits while striking out a career-high 12 for the third time this season. He needed just 99 pitches to complete the game for Auburn.
“Casey Mize, to throw a complete game under 100 pitches in a college baseball game is amazing,” Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said. “He was just really fresh tonight and competed his heart out. We needed every pitch.”
Mize became the first Auburn pitcher to reach 100 strikeouts in a season since 2000 in the third inning.
“My defense’s play tonight was unbelievable,” Mize said. “Luke, Will, everybody made unbelievable plays behind me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen better plays made behind me when I was pitching. Hats off to those guys. They did a great job of picking me up when I made mistakes.”
Auburn struck first just three batters into the bottom of the first as Daniel Robert drove in Jonah Todd with an RBI single.
Tennessee Tech battled back with single runs in the second and third innings. Ryan Flick launched his 19th home run of the year in the second, and Trevor Putzig drove in Tennessee Tech’s second run with a two-out RBI double in the third.
The game-winning offensive moment occurred in the bottom of the fourth for Auburn.
Sam Gillikin tied the game with an opposite-field RBI double with one out in the fourth. After a lineout by Will Holland, the Golden Eagles intentionally walked Todd to load the bases for Luke Jarvis, who has battled back spasms for over a month.
On the seventh pitch of the at bat, Jarvis grounded a go-ahead, two-run single to left field to give Auburn a 4-2 lead. The Tigers had all the runs they would need.
“It’s been tough,” Jarvis said. “I ended up sitting out a lot of those games in preparation for this to hopefully be able to play these games in a row. So the way it turned out, I couldn’t be happier.”
Chase Chambers got the Golden Eagles one run closer in the seventh inning when he launched his 18th home run of the year to center field.
In the top of the eighth, Tennessee Tech got the tying and go-ahead run with two outs, but Mize got Flick to ground out to Jarvis to end the threat.
In the bottom half of the eighth, Jay Estes launched the first home run of his career to give Auburn a much-needed insurance run.
Tennessee Tech starter Jake Usher (5-3) took the loss after allowing four runs on five hits in 3.1 innings. Kit Fowler and Marcus Evey held the Tigers to one run over the final 4.2 innings.
Estes finished with two hits for Auburn. Jarvis had two RBI while Robert, Estes and Gillikin each had one.
With the win, Auburn moves on to the regional championship game Sunday night at 6 p.m. CT. Tennessee Tech will play Florida State at noon CT Sunday in an elimination game. The winner of that game will have to beat Auburn twice to win the regional.
The Tigers are one win away from their first Super Regional appearance since 1999. Auburn will turn to freshman Davis Daniel Sunday night as it looks to make history.
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