Game 2
Game 2 against Cincinnati looked pretty similar to the Friday night game as No. 18 Auburn’s starting pitcher once again had great command of the ball and kept the Bearcats struggling at the plate.
Following Tanner Burns’s record-tying performance, Jack Owen got the call for Game 2 of the series. Owen may not have tied a record, but he did have arguably his best start as a Tiger. He pitched a career high seven innings, allowing only three hits and no walks or runs. He struck out a career high 10 batters.
“It’s like confidence, I guess,” Owen said. “Lats year, I kinda pitched to not give up runs instead of to get guys outs.You know on my heels instead of on the tack. And this year its just been like go after guys, give them your bets stuff. You know your best stuff is usually good enough to win.”
The Tigers beat the Bearcats 5-0 after Cody Greenhill came in to pitch the last two innings of the game and held on to the shut out. He earned his second save of the season.
The Tigers got some early run support for their pitcher. Judd Ward doubled to start off the bottom of the first. Will Holland followed with a single, and Ward was able to get across the plate on a double from Rankin Woley.
After that though, Auburn went nearly silent at the plate. It did not score another run until the bottom of the seventh. Ryan Bliss scored on a double hit by Kason Howell. The Tigers scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth. Edouard Julien and Steven Williams scored on a double by Woley. He scored on a wild pitch, getting the Tigers up to the final score of 5-0.
“That was kind of our champion of the day, Jack Owen,” said Auburn head coach Butch Thompson. “And we did enough offensively to secure the first game.”
Game 3
Things in Game 3 of the series, and the second of the day, looked different compared to the other two games. This game was much more reliant on hitting than pitching, with Auburn winning 9-5.
“I think we’re just, me and Rankin and Eddy (Julien) and a lot of other guys, are really just trying to simplify and just do what we do,” Williams said. “Not trying to do too much and try to be the best hitters we can in situations and feed off what other guys can do.”
Carson Skipper took the mound for Game 3, looking to earn the Tigers the sweep and keep the phenomenal pitching trend going. Instead, things got off to a bit of a rocky start.
“I thought we had trouble getting off the field,” Thompson said. “Maybe just extending our first doubleheader of the year. We had trouble getting off the field with two outs, I think we had a play in the first inning that was more of a mental error than a physical error. Couldn’t award it but just our internal clock could be better. So I didn’t like how we got out the gate."
The Bearcats scored two runs in the first on a double from Sean McLaughlin. Only one of those runs was earned after Skipper had an error on a pickoff attempt at second.
Auburn’s offense got things back under control by responding with a four run bottom of the first. A double from Woley scored two. He and Williams came home on wild pitches. Williams went from second to home on wild pitches twice during the game.
Cincinnati retied the game in the third with a two-run home run from Cole Murphy. In the bottom half of the inning, Bliss hit his first career home run to get the Tigers up 5-4. The Tigers scored two more in the fifth, one more in the seventh and another in the eighth.
While the batting order continued to tack on the runs, Elliott Anderson came in as a relief pitcher for the Tigers. He held the Bearcats at bay, only allowing them to score one more. He struck out six, walked one and allowed one run on three hits in 4.1 innings of work. He earned the win for the series finale, his second of the season.
“Your goal is to come out the pen and get the first guy out,” Anderson said. “But Coach Smith tells us just everyday to give our ball club a chance to win.”
Auburn will face off against UT Martin on Tuesday and Wednesday at Plainsman Park. Both games are set for 4 p.m. CST starts.
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