The No. 6 Tigers grabbed their 12th consecutive home regular-season series win on Saturday after silencing the bats of the Winthrop Eagles, putting another check mark in the win column for Auburn before conference play begins.
Rain delays and schedule changes forcing a doubleheader on Saturday aside, Butch Thompson’s squad absolutely dominated the series. The Tigers limited the Eagles to only one run, making sure Auburn’s bats were the only ones ringing this weekend.
“Our team was present,” Thompson said. “I talked about confidence this weekend, because I knew (Winthrop) was going to be confident coming in. Today I talked about ‘Can you be present? Be able to focus for a period of time? Be able to think about game one first, and then game two, and then a rain delay?”
Auburn started out strong Friday with a 10-run win that was left unanswered. Sophomore catcher Chase Fralick got things rolling in the first inning with a three-run home run to right field. Junior outfielder Bristol Carter kept things going and led the team with three runs, two hits and a two-run home run in the fourth inning Friday night.
While the offense was off the charts on Friday, the pitching was also incredible. Alongside the shutout performance, Jake Marciano allowed only three hits in six innings pitched. The Tigers ended the night early, starting the weekend off on a great note.
The Tigers kept the shutout ball rolling on Saturday during the first of two games. Pitcher Jackson Sanders had seven strikeouts between the third and fifth innings and retired nine straight batters.
“Just getting the first inning out of the way has been big for me,” Sanders said. “Getting up there and getting set. Just being settled is what we talk about. We try to be quick and keep the defense engaged.”
After two scoreless games for Winthrop, they finally replied with their one run of the series in the third inning of the second game on Saturday. Auburn came back and scored three runs before an over two-hour rain delay, ending redshirt sophomore Alex Petrovic’s outing after retiring the side following the allowed run.
After the skies cleared, sophomore Christian Chatterton came in to finish the game with three strikeouts and just over two scoreless innings pitched. The offense quickly fired back up with freshman Mason McCraine’s third run of the game.
“I wouldn’t say it was a big day for me. I’d say it was a big day for the team,” McCraine said. “In the meeting after the game (Coach Thompson) talked about how tough our team was, and I think that was brought to light today. After the rain delay, we all stayed focused, came together and won the game.”
Auburn (13-2) had yet another successful weekend on the Plains, the win over Winthrop (10-5) being the team’s third weekend sweep in four weeks. The Tigers will wrap up their nine-game homestand at Plainsman Park on Tuesday when they host UAB and will kick off conference play later in the week at Missouri (13-2).
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