Sophomore pitcher Alex Petrovic shined as No. 23 Auburn (14-3) defeated UT Martin (6-9) 6-1 on Tuesday night at Toyota Field.
Petrovic, making his second career start for the Tigers, reached a new career high in strikeouts with eight and retired the first 15 batters he faced.
“When a pitcher is going like that, just let him run,” Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said. “That’s a confidence builder, a step for him. What I like about him is just the maturity. This is not an individual sport. This is a team sport. He just settled everybody around him. I think that created some freedom throughout the ranks and our ballclub.”
Petrovic allowed one run and only one hit through 5.1 innings. Only two Skyhawks players were able to reach base with Petrovic on the mound.
“Command over the baseball is the most important thing when it comes to the mound. It creates a lot of success for me,” Petrovic said. “I was just trying to do as much as I can for the team. I felt really comfortable. My stuff was set, and I did what I could.”
Aside from Petrovic, Auburn sent John Armstrong, Andreas Alvarez and Ryan Hetzler to the mound to close out the game. They combined for 105 total pitches, 73 of which were strikes, and allowed only four baserunners and zero runs.
“Hopefully that’s just a good rhythm that we struck tonight, especially on the mound, that we can carry and try to reach for each and every day regardless of who we are playing. That should be the goal,” Thompson said.
Offensively, junior Eric Snow led the way for the Tigers, getting three hits for the second straight game and also hitting his third home run of the season.
Snow was able to match his season high in RBIs with three, and was joined by three other Auburn players who had multiple hits on the night.
“I just try to keep working hard and keep a consistent routine that Gabe (Gross) set out for us. I think that’s really paid off,” Snow said. “I love to get after it in the box. I know a pitcher’s best pitch is strike one, and I love jumping on it when they throw it.”
Sophomore Cade Belyeu opened up the scoring in the third inning for the Tigers with a sacrifice fly to left field after Snow was hit by a pitch and Cooper McMurray singled.
Snow was able to add to that lead in the fifth inning with a two-run home run after a double from Eric Guevara, who made his first start since Opening Weekend.
The Skyhawks lone run came from a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning. Auburn was able to answer with three runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning to reach the final score of 6-1.
Auburn will head back to Plainsman Park on Friday to open up SEC play against No. 13 Vanderbilt. The game is set for 6 p.m. CST.
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Marshall is a junior majoring in Journalism. He joined the Plainsman in the fall of 2024.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @marshalldow02
