Auburn baseball clinched an Opening Weekend series victory over Presbyterian College on Saturday afternoon. Behind a parade of solo home runs from a trio of Tigers and a five-inning, one-hit bid from Richard Fitts, Auburn won 6-1 in game two of the three-game series.
“We had some big hits today, got some big swings off,” said head coach Butch Thompson. “Thankful to win the ball game, but we have much to work on and clean up.”
Similar to Cody Greenhill on Friday night, Fitts threw nine pitches, struck out two batters and sat Presbyterian down, in order, to start the game. He’d get some run support early in the bottom of the first, off of Bryson Ware’s solo shot with two outs.
Ware continues his impressive campaign since he stepped onto the Plains as a transfer from Pearl River Community College. The sophomore is hitting a team-high .625 from the plate and has a team-high five RBI through two games this season.
Auburn’s next scoring opportunity came in the bottom of the third after Garrett Farquhar and Ryan Bliss both singled. Ware came to the plate with two outs, but hit one off the end of the bat and flew out to center field to end the inning.
Bliss flashed the leather in the top half of the fourth with an inning-ending play behind the second-base bag. With two outs and no one on base, Presbyterian’s Sean Klein hit a hard ground ball up the middle. It looked as if it was on its way to center field for the first hit of the afternoon for the Blue Hose.
However, Bliss bolted across the infield, slid to cut the ball off and fired it to first baseman John Samuel Shenker for the out.
“Those are game-changers,” Thompson said. “Those are momentum swings. It’s hard to look at a game and see what all Ryan Bliss does cause there's so much more to it. He’s kind of the face of the program in my opinion. He has been a guy that was ready to play. To step in, have success from day one. He’s done that.”
On the mound, Fitts faced the minimum amount of batters and did not allow a base hit through the first four innings.
The no-hit bid ended in the top half of the fifth, when Presbyterian’s Eric Toth hit a solo shot to left-center field, tying the game at one. Fitts closed out the inning without allowing another hit and was done for the day after that. The junior threw 66 pitches over five innings, striking out six, with Toth’s solo homer the only hit he allowed.
“I was pumped,” Fitts said about being back on the mound. “Being able to play against another team is a lot of fun. Being able to look up into the stands, it was pretty exciting to see some fans. We’re having fun as a team, and I’m having a lot of fun being on the bump again.”
Presbyterian threatened to take the lead in the top of the sixth, loading the bases with no one out. Auburn’s Hayden Mullins worked out of the inning without any damage, striking out two and forcing an inning-ending fly out to left.
Auburn worked out of a bases-loaded jam twice, with Blake Burkhalter also working out of a jam in the top of the seventh. Both pitchers shut the rallies down and didn’t let a run cross the plate, which was a huge shift in momentum for Auburn.
“That was huge,” said catcher Nate LaRue. “[Presbyterian] had all the momentum. For [Mullins and Burkhalter] to reset themselves and get out of that, that’s huge. That’s what we’ve been looking for all spring and all fall. They’ve been able to do that for us. So that’s big time.”
In the bottom of the sixth, Ware lined one to left field for a stand-up double with one out, his second hit of the day. After Rankin Woley grounded out to shortstop, Ware moved over to third base. He scored after a balk was called on Presbyterian pitcher Alex Flood, giving the Tigers a 2-1 advantage after six.
The Tigers were back on the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh, with a pair of solo homers. LaRue led off the bottom of the inning with one to left-center field and Bliss tacked on another run with his shot to center field. The pair of homers gave Auburn a 4-1 lead.
Auburn added some more runs in the bottom of the eighth with a two-out rally. Shenker scored Kason Howell on his RBI single into left field. The next batter, LaRue, added his second RBI in as many hits with a double down the left-field line.
LaRue finished the day 2-for-4 with a double, home run and two RBI. Behind the plate, LaRue threw out one baserunner, in the second inning.
“Nate LaRue got a start. It was really good," Thompson said. "He really added a couple big swings that didn’t hurt from the catcher position.”
Carson Skipper came on in the ninth and pitched a scoreless ninth inning to close out the game for the Tigers.
Auburn looks to complete the series sweep in Game 3 tomorrow afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. CST and the game will be broadcast on SEC Network-plus.
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