No. 17 Auburn snatches victory from South Alabama

After a disappointing series at Vanderbilt, the No. 17 Auburn Tigers (14-6, 0-3 SEC) faced the South Alabama Jaguars (12-8, 0-3 SBC) in Montgomery, Alabama, on Tuesday night. After trailing 1-0 for three innings, Auburn stole the lead in the seventh – claiming a 2-1 victory over the Jaguars. 

“Great team win,” said pitcher Parker Carlson. “The offense wasn’t firing on all cylinders, but the whole pitching staff did a phenomenal job. That’s a good team over there, and we just tried to fill up the zone the best we could and give our guys a chance to win.”

The Tigers and the Jaguars got off to a slow start in Riverwalk Stadium, remaining scoreless for three frames until the top of the fourth. 

In 29 at-bats, Auburn’s offense added two runs, five hits and one RBI to the stat sheet, while USA had five hits – two doubles – one run and one RBI in 32 at-bats. 

South Alabama’s offense found its opportunity to get on the board in the fourth. On a full count, first baseman Lucas Ismaili hammered his ball over the left field wall, securing the Jaguars’ 1-0 lead. 

USA’s defense rallied together to hold Auburn scoreless through an additional three frames until the Jaguars’ pitching staff made crucial mistakes in the seventh. 

As the Jaguars went through three pitchers in just one inning, Mason Maners earned the Tigers’ first run after Cooper Weiss walked with the bases loaded. With bases still loaded and two outs, Ike Irish entered the batter’s box and secured Auburn’s second run – scored by Chris Stanfield – after being walked. 

“Those were huge at-bats,” said head coach Butch Thompson. “These are resilient. They knew the score and knew the situation and competed with two guys. They got to the point of the game they wanted with the lead, and they dropped in two guys who hadn’t been hit. Our guys did a really good job with the strike zone to get the two on the board.”

Thompson’s pitching staff had a solid night on the mound, collecting 13 strikeouts and one walk with five allowed hits and one earned run – facing 33 total batters. Comparatively, Mark Calvi’s South Alabama bullpen had seven strikeouts, one wild pitch and seven walks with five allowed hits and two runs.

“Tickled to death to get back in the win column, but absolutely excited for every pitcher who walked out there who did something very, very positive,” Thompson said. “I just thought the composure was good. Everybody was landing more than one pitch. Once the win was secured, I really thought it was important and neat to look back and see our pitching staff helped us win a 2-1 ballgame.”

Instead of the usual midweek starter, Conner McBride, Christian Herberholz started on the mound and pitched three innings – securing four strikeouts, one walk and two allowed hits. 

Making his second appearance in orange and blue, freshman Alex Petrovic relieved Herberholz in the fourth, pitching three innings. Petrovic logged four strikeouts with no walks and allowed two hits and one earned run in his outing. 

“The guys respect him so much coming back from injury. He’s been late to get to the party with us,” Thompson said. “We don’t think he’s just a guy. We think he has a chance to be a really special guy as a true freshman. After that first hitter bit him, I thought he really did settle in and give us a couple of good innings.”

Taking over in the seventh, Parker Carlson earned his first win of the season after adding four strikeouts with no walks, hits or runs in two innings. Relieving Carlson in the ninth, Dylan Watts closed the game with one strikeout and one allowed hit – to earn his first save as a Tiger. 

Resuming SEC play, Auburn will host the No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks (17-2, 3-0 SEC) for a three-game series. The series opener will start on Thursday, March 21, at 6 p.m. CST and will be broadcast on the SEC Network.