Auburn plated runs early and often Tuesday evening to continue its winning ways inside Plainsman Park with a midweek 6-2 victory over Samford.
While Auburn’s bats continued to excel, the Tigers pitching staff was another dominant factor in the win, holding the Samford Bulldogs to just two runs despite a poor defensive performance with four errors.
Brandon McCraine (11) catches a ground ball against Samford in Plainsman Park in Auburn, AL on March 3, 2025.
Andreas Alvarez was lights out in tonight’s start, tossing five scoreless frames while allowing just three hits and striking out eight Bulldogs en route to picking up his first win of the season. With Alvarez getting a decision, Auburn starters have now reached the five-inning mark in 10 of the team’s first 11 games this season.
“It was kind of a struggle, and then we met as a staff, me (Everett Teaford) and Scott Foxhall),” Alvarez said. “It was just what adjustments can we make to get back in the zone. I had my pitch count up early through three, and I was just like I have to get through five. Just being able to bear down and get back in the zone really helped me out a lot.”
The final two innings of the righty’s outing were especially efficient, as the righty retired all six batters he faced in order capped off by a strike out to end his performance.
“The fourth and fifth (innings) are my two favorite innings he’s thrown in a long time,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “The ball got down and it was fastball, slider. It wasn’t just one pitch. It was strike one, strike two, just finally found that rhythm.”
The Tigers offense got off to a quick start by plating a run in the bottom of the first behind a sacrifice fly from Eric Guevara after a leadoff walk drawn by Bristol Carter, and the home half of the second inning commenced in the same way as Samford walked Mason McCraine.
Carter was able to drive in McCraine with a single through the left side to put his squad up 2-0 in the second inning and Guevara powered a solo shot to right field in the following inning making it 3-0 before Auburn’s bats went quiet for the next three innings.
Right handed pitcher, Jett Johnston relieved Alvarez of his duties in the sixth and allowed a solo home run to Cade Carr in his first inning of work, but settled down to allow just one more hit to preserve the 3-1 lead heading into the seventh inning stretch.
The home team’s bats came alive once again in the bottom half of the frame as singles from Chris Rembert and McCraine furthered the Tigers advantage before heading into the eighth inning.
Both teams were able to scratch a run a piece by fielder’s choices to make the contest 6-2, which would be the eventual final score after Garrett Brewer shut out the Bulldogs in the final inning to secure the win.
Auburn will now set its sights on its weekend series as it continues its homestand with a three-game set against Winthrop commencing Friday evening.
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Will is a sophomore majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in the spring of 2025.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @willdembo
