On Friday, Auburn baseball was back at Plainsman Park for its first game in 344 days.
Opening Day saw new faces emerge, Judd Ward had four hits and Cody Greenhill struck out six in Auburn's 14-3 win over Presbyterian.
“Thankful for an Opening Day victory,” said head coach Butch Thompson. “Whatever limited capacity we had, we could feel our fans tonight. I didn’t know it would be that way. I think our fans were into the game, we could hear them and feel them more at home than I thought we’d be able to. I thought that was a pleasant surprise.”
Two transfers found themselves in the Opening Day lineup for Auburn. Josh Hall earned the start in right field, and Bryson Ware started at designated hitter for the Tigers. In their Auburn debuts, the duo combined to go 5-for-8 with 5 RBIs, four of which belonged to Ware.
In an offense-heavy night for the Tigers, leadoff hitter Judd Ward crossed the plate four times. The senior was 4-for-5 from the plate, which included a two-run double. The four hits tied Ward's career-high for hits in a game, while the four runs scored were a career-high.
“It’s a great feeling,” Ward said about his performance. “Excited to be back. Been too long.”
On the mound for the Tigers was Ward’s high school teammate at Russellville High School, Greenhill, making his first career start.
“It was awesome seeing [Greenhill] going out there,” Ward said. “He works quick, so it’s fun to play behind. He always keeps you ready.’
It took only nine pitches for Greenhill to retire the first three batters he faced. Greenhill struck out the first two, one looking and one swinging, before a line drive caught by third baseman Rankin Woley ended the top frame of the first.
Transfer Bryson Ware had the first hit of 2021 in the bottom of the first, a two-out single into left field. He finished the day 3-for-4 with four RBI's, tying Rankin Woley for a team-high.
“Ware is a threat,” Thompson said. “I think if I’m a pitching coach that has been my trait the majority of my career, he takes one swing of the bat and even if he swings and misses, just the authority with which he takes his swing in, it’s like ‘Uh oh, that’s a threat.”
Ware was not the only transfer who made an impact in his first Auburn at-bat.
In the bottom of the second, Hall stepped into the batter’s box with Steven Williams standing on second with two outs in a scoreless game. Hall broke the tie with his first hit as a Tiger, a drive right into center field that fell in the gap and rolled to the wall.
Williams scored from second, and Hall legged out a stand-up triple to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. Brody Moore, the nine-spot hitter, was the next man up and dropped a single into center field, scoring Hall.
“Ever since we’ve been back in January, he’s hit the ball hard,” Thompson said. “He’s a defender, he’s a runner. First at-bat, he hits a triple. His speed, his short game, and his defense, you can see pretty quick he’s a pretty well-rounded player. He adds a new dimension to us.”
Ward continued the two-out rally for the Tigers, hitting a ball over the right-field fence and off the brand new development center for a homer. The two-run homer pushed the lead to 4-0 for Auburn before the inning ended.
Presbyterian got on the board in the top of the fourth, scoring a run off of a few Auburn mistakes. Greenhill tried to pick off Presbyterian’s Landon Shaw at first base, but a bad throw by Greenhill on the attempt moved Shaw to second. Shaw tagged up on a fly ball to center, got to third base, and later scored on Greenhill's wild pitch.
Hall added two runs in the bottom of the frame for Auburn with his two-run single into left field to push the Auburn lead to 6-1.
The Blue Hose answered with two runs in the top of the fifth off Jake Wyandt’s two-run homer deep to center field. Following the home run, Auburn led 6-3.
Greenhill's day was finished after five innings. He finished the day with a career-high six strikeouts over five innings, allowing three hits and two earned runs while only walking one.
The Tigers then broke it open for a second time in the bottom of the sixth, with another four-run inning. Auburn had three four-run innings in the game.
After loading up the bases with no outs, Auburn scored three straight runs without getting a bat on the ball. Two walks and a hit by pitch led to three runs crossing the plate, extending the Auburn lead to 9-3. Tyler Miller batted in his first run of 2021 with an RBI groundout to tack on one more before the Tigers headed to the seventh up 10-3.
The Tigers weren’t done scoring, putting up another four-spot in the bottom of the seventh. The runs came off Ware’s fourth RBI and a no-doubter off the bat of Woley that sailed over the left-field wall. Woley’s home run scored three, and the Tigers held on for a 14-3 victory.
Game 2 of the three-game series against Presbyterian is on Saturday, with the first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m. CST. The game will air on SEC Network-plus.
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