It was back and forth in the batter’s box for Auburn and Tennessee in the first two innings.
But, with the aid of two Tiger pitchers after the second inning, Auburn defeated the Volunteers 9-5 to claim its second conference victory of the season.
“I know the record might not say it, but we are a good team,” said Auburn pitcher John Armstrong. “We have pieces, and if all of our pieces connect, we can be really good and make a really good run. So, we need to make sure all of our pieces can connect for the long run and just keep going.”
The No. 4 Tennessee Volunteers kicked off the series with three runs in the top of the first inning. Leading off for the Vols, Chris Moore doubled on a line drive to left field and advanced to third base following a wild pitch from Auburn starting pitcher Dylan Watts. With Moore on third, Vols first baseman Blake Burke doubled to left field to send Moore home and give Tennessee its first run of the night.
After Watts' first strikeout of the inning, Kavares Tears took to the batter’s box with Burke on base and homered over center field. The Volunteers took a 3-0 lead over the Tigers only 10 pitches into the game.
Watts survived the top of the first ending, striking out two more batters to send Auburn into the bottom of the game’s starting inning. The Tigers answered Tennessee’s dominant first inning offensive performance with a dominant offensive performance of their own in the bottom of the first.
Auburn’s first two batters struck out swinging, giving the Tigers two outs and sending Ike Irish to the plate. On a 1-1 pitch with two outs, Irish hit his 11th home run this season to put Auburn on the scoreboard.
Following Irish’s home run, Cooper McMurray and Bobby Peirce both hit singles and Christian Hall singled up the middle to send McMurray home. With runners on first and second, freshman Cade Belyeu headed to the batters’ box where he launched a 461-foot home run over the right-field bullpen, giving the Tigers a 5-3 lead over the Vols.
Tennessee tied things up at 5-5 in the top of the second inning. With one runner on base, Moore got his second hit of the night –a home run that earned him his second RBI and tied the contest.
LHP Carson Myers took over on the mound for Auburn in the second inning, striking out two batters to end the top of the second. The Volunteers would not score again for the rest of the contest.
Auburn took its lead back and held it for the rest of the game in the bottom of the second after Irish hit a single to center field with two runners on base, sending Mason Maners home. The Tigers scored two more times in the second inning – on a fielder's choice with the bases loaded and a Hall single to send Irish home.
The Tigers led Tennessee 8-5 at the end of the second inning and went on to score one more run in the bottom of the sixth when McMurray hit a sacrifice fly, sending Maners home.
Four Tigers recorded RBIs with Belyeu leading the way with three. Irish and Hall both had two RBIs, and McMurray and Peirce followed with one a piece.
Myers finished the night pitching 3.2 innings where he recorded four strikeouts, three hits and three walks. RHP Armstrong took over on the mound in the sixth inning and finished the night pitching four innings with six strikeouts, one walk and one hit allowed. Myers and Armstrong combined for a 7.2-inning shutout to seal Auburn’s upset over No. 4 Tennessee.
“Carson had a couple of swings, but started taking the stings out of the swings, and then I mean, it’s Armstrong’s night,” said Auburn head coach Butch Thompson. “So, just an amazing job by those two guys.”
Auburn looks to secure a series win over Tennessee tomorrow in game two of the series. First pitch is at 3:30 p.m. CST directly following A-Day and will be televised on SEC Network+.
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Grace Heim is a senior from Enterprise, Alabama, majoring in Political Science. She started with The Plainsman in January of 2023.
You can follow her on X (Twitter) at @graceeheim
