No. 22 Auburn picked up a 2-1 series win over No. 13 Vanderbilt to open up conference play at Plainsman Park.
The Tigers won 6-2 on Friday, fell 8-6 in the series clincher on Saturday and won 7-6 in the rubber match on Sunday.
Here’s a recap of the Tigers ’weekend:
Game one
The Tigers’ pitching duo of Sam Dutton and Carson Myers held No. 13 Vanderbilt scoreless for eight out of nine innings, and No. 22 Auburn used a five-run third inning to secure a 6-2 win in the SEC opener at Plainsman Park on Friday night.
The Commodores hit a two-run blast in the third inning and recorded four hits in the first three frames, but Auburn’s pitching duo held them scoreless while only giving up two hits for the remainder of the game.
“(Dutton) showed a ton of maturity,” said Auburn head coach Butch Thompson. “He gave up the home run, but our offense was right there for him. They responded and had his back. He had all of his pitches working. I just saw maturity flow over, and he continued to do a nice job."
“Myers was unhittable in the eighth,” he added. “He helped us get to the finish line and not have to bring in another piece to try to finish it. He just did an amazing job.”
Delivering a career-high seven innings in the start, Dutton retired 14 of the last 17 batters he faced from the end of the third inning through his final frame. Myers took over in the eighth, striking out the side on 10 pitches before closing out the ninth.
Facing an early 2-0 deficit in the third, Auburn’s five-run third inning started as five of the first six batters reached and all came in to score. Bub Terrell and Eric Guevara started the innings off with a pair of singles and Bristol Carter was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Terrell touched the plate on a wild pitch and Eric Snow walked to load the bases once more. Cooper McMurray tied it with a sacrifice fly and Deric Fabian stayed hot with a two-RBI double down the line in right field. Chase Fralick capped the inning's scoring efforts off by driving in Fabian on a RBI-single through the right side.
“We just got hits in big situations,” Terrell said. “As a team we just rely on each other and rack up good at-bats. We just trust one another.”
Terrell paced the Tigers with three hits and Fabian recorded two RBIs – the sixth time this season he has tallied multiple RBIs.
Game Two
No. 13 Vanderbilt used a five-run fifth inning on Saturday to take down No. 22 Auburn 8-6 and even the series.
Auburn held the Commodores hitless in the last four frames but couldn’t come up with the big hits at the plate in the seventh or ninth innings. The Tigers put the tying run in scoring position in the seventh and brought it to the plate again in the final inning but were left looking for the timely hit.
“We couldn’t get out of that fifth inning. It was close, but that was the difference in the ballgame,” said Thompson. “We steadied ourselves, though. What was positive were (Hayden) Murphy and (Dylan) Watts. We made some real adjustments with those guys and we could see it today. It was very successful for those guys.”
Murphy and Watts combined for four scoreless innings out of the bullpen and recorded four strikeouts along the way. Jackson Sanders turned in a scoreless eighth inning, covering the final four frames.
Tigers starting pitcher Cade Fisher struck out the side on 11 pitches in the first inning, and Auburn opened the scoring in the bottom half of the inning. Cooper McMurray singled to center field, advanced on a walk by Deric Fabian and a hit-by-pitch by Cade Belyeu and scored on a sacrifice fly to left center field by Chase Fralick.
Auburn added to its lead in the second inning when Bub Terrell drew a walk and Lucas Steele powered a shot over the wall in left field for a 3-0 lead and Steele’s first homer of the season.
After retiring seven of the first eight batters and turning in two scoreless innings, Fisher was unable to get out of the third as Vanderbilt answered with back-to-back walks followed by back-to-back doubles to even the score, 3-3, in the third.
The Tigers reclaimed the lead in the bottom half of the inning as Steele recorded his season-high third RBI of the game on a single to left field.
After Cam Tilly turned in 1.2 scoreless innings of work, Vanderbilt scored five runs on five hits, a walk and an error to take an 8-4 lead in the fifth. The Tigers answered with a run in the home half of the inning as Fralick doubled to left field with one out. He later scored on a sacrifice fly from Terell.
Steele recorded his third hit of the game with a double to left field in the seventh, scoring Fralick who reached on a walk, but a flyout from Belyeu to right field ended the inning with the potential tying run in scoring position.
With the Tigers fighting for a come-from-behind win, Chris Rembert hit a ground-rule double down the right field line to bring the tying run to the plate, but a groundout to the catcher ended the game.
Fralick, Rembert and Steele each collected multiple hits and accounted for seven of the team’s nine hits in the game.
Game three
With two outs and No. 22 Auburn trailing 6-3 in the bottom of the eighth, Cade Belyeu cleared the bases with a grand slam over the wall in right field to give the Tigers a 7-6 lead that they would ride out to claim the series over No. 13 Vanderbilt at Plainsman Park on Sunday.
“Going into that at-bat, me and coach (Gabe) Gross talked and just said 'Let him provide the power.' I just wanted to be smooth and just try to see it as deep as I can. I took a terrible swing on the first pitch. Then I was trying to lock in as much as I could. I saw the spin out of his hand on that last pitch and got a good swing off. I really blacked out after that. It was a crazy moment,” Belyeu said.
Two singles by Chase Fralick and Lucas Steele, respectively, and a hit by pitch by Chris Rembert loaded the bases for Belyeu in the eighth.
Vanderbilt struck first in the top of the second with a home run and a sacrifice fly, and put up a four-run inning in the fourth behind back-to-back home runs and a pair of RBI singles to hold a five-run lead.
Andreas Alvarez secured the win after entering in the fifth and holding the Commodores scoreless in four innings pitched. He retired six of the first seven batters he faced and relinquished just one hit while throwing 35 of his 50 total pitches for strikes.
Ryan Hetzler entered on the heels of Alvarez and recorded the save after striking out the side in the ninth.
"The difference-maker wound up being on the mound," said Thompson. "Alvarez came in and gave us 50-plus pitches. They didn't score in the last five innings and we needed everyone of those goose eggs. Ryan Hetzler had his stuff set."
The Tigers put up one run in the bottom half of the third on an RBI-single from Bub Terrell and put up two more in the fifth on a solo-blast from Eric Guevara and an unearned run scored by Terrell, putting Auburn in the situation for Belyeus’ blast in the eighth.
Terrell led Auburn at the plate with two hits as six other Tigers recorded a hit.
Auburn will return to action on Tuesday as it hosts Alabama State at Plainsman Park. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
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