No. 25 ranked Auburn improved to 10-0 on the season Friday night behind an impressive performance at the plate from freshman Edouard Julien. The Tigers would cling onto a 4-3 victory over BYU.
Julien would go 1-2 at the plate with a three run home run and a sac fly which would give him four RBI’s on the night. Julien blasted a home run, for Auburn, over the right field wall to get the scoring started in the bottom of the second inning. Auburn would tack on another in the bottom of the fourth with a Julien sacrifice fly to drive in Brett Wright.
Julien said about his home run, “I was just trying to put a barrel on the bat and drive someone in. I was trying to go opposite field. I thought the right fielder had it. I thought it was a sac fly, and I was happy about it. It was pretty good that the ball went out over the fence.”
Casey Mize would record the win on the mound to make him 3-0 on the season. Mize pitched 5.1 innings and recorded nine strikeouts. He would only allow two hits and one walk, but he would give up two earned runs in the sixth inning. Calvin Coker would come in and minimize the damage after Elliott Anderson replaced Mize for only one batter. Coker would pitch 3.2 innings and record three strikeouts. He also allowed no hits. Coker would also record his second save of the year for Auburn.
Auburn head coach Butch Thompson, said, “Casey Mize, Calvin Coker, and Edouard Julien get our three game balls today. Coker gave us three and two-thirds today and started to settle down. He started to affect swings and he took us all the way to the house. To come in during the sixth inning and finish a ball game at this level is to tip your hat to him.”
Auburn would lead the early portion of the game by a score of 4-0. BYU would threaten though as they pulled within one run in the top of the sixth inning. The Cougars would score on a RBI single off of Mize to make the score 4-1. Anderson replaced Mize and would give up a two run double to left center in the only batter he faced all night. Coker would get out of the jam though and allow Auburn to keep the lead.
Auburn threatened to score again the seventh when they had two runners in scoring position with only one out. Auburn would ground out and strikeout to end the inning though.
At the plate for Auburn, Brendan Ventor and Josh Anthony would both go 2-4. Ventor brought his batting average up to .462 after tonight. As for Anthony, Thompson was impressed as he said all four of his at bats were hit well. The ball came off his bat at 102+ MPH every at bat tonight.
Auburn will face off against BYU again on Saturday. They will play a doubleheader with first pitch for the first game at noon. The second game will start 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.
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