Auburn baseball defeated North Alabama 6-2 after a slow start, moving the Tigers to 5-1 on the season.
Early on, Auburn gave up a two-run home run off the bat of Lion’s hitter Nash Rippen but the Tigers and their starting pitcher kept their composure and did not allow another run for the rest of the game.
Auburn's pitching staff combined for 15 total strikeouts, allowing only the two runs in the first inning. Despite first ever start, freshman Andreas Alvarez stayed focused and put together an impressive start, going five innings while allowing just two runs off two hits and three walks. The Tigers' relievers, Griffin Graves and Parker Carlson also pitched a solid game. Graves threw a scoreless inning followed a shut down three inning stretch pitched by Carlson who threw an astounding 23 strikes in 27 pitches.
“For those three guys to really get us through nine innings, probably helps us going into another series against another really tough team coming to town. So, Parker did some good work. I didn’t know he finish when he dropped in there, and he was phenomenal,” said Auburn head coach Butch Thompson regarding the pitching staff.
When it came to Alvarez’s outing, the freshman totaled strikeouts which — the most by an Auburn freshman since Keegan Thompson in 2014. After opening with a two-run home run in the first inning, Alvarez did not allow one more blemish to the scoreboard thanks to help from an array of strikeouts and some timely double plays by the defense behind him.
“It felt unreal,” Alvarez said. “Getting to go out there and throw five as your first start. That’s a pretty special feeling as far as being able to have the guys behind you, obviously didn’t start the way we wanted it to, but to be able to bounce back and come back like that felt really good.”
Auburn trailed most of the game following Rippen’s early homer with only a Deric Fabian single contributing to the run total for the first four innings. The Tigers' offense tied the game in the bottom of the fifth with freshman Chris Rembert hitting a 405-foot home run, the first hit of collegiate career. Auburn took the lead thanks to freshman designated hitter Bub Thompson knocking a double off the wall in the sixth inning, but the Tigers wouldn’t break it open until the eighth — where they added three runs to extend the lead.
“I think soon, it’s only been five games, but soon I think they’ll just be guys that help us win,” Thompson said. “If they continue to go about business the way they are.”
The Tiger’s pitching and late offense helped them surge to their fifth win of the season and will look to forward to a weekend series where they will host Wright State at Plainsman Park. Game one will be Friday, Feb. 21 at 2:30 p.m. CST.
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Reid is a freshman, exploratory major. He joined the Plainsman in the fall of 2024.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @ReidFarris2
