No. 6 Auburn baseball captured its 12th straight regular-season home series win with a clean sweep of Winthrop over the weekend at Plainsman Park.
Auburn controlled the series opener on Friday with a 10-0 mercy-rule victory, cruised to a 6-0 win in the first game of Saturday's twin bill, and capped the night off with an 8-1 win for its second series sweep of the season.
Here is a recap of the Tigers’ weekend:
Game One
Auburn cruised to a 10-0 mercy-rule victory in seven innings in the series opener on Friday night.
The Tigers out-hit Winthrop 11-3, blasting a trio of longballs that accounted for seven of Auburn’s 10 runs. Auburn tallied six extra-base hits, which came from five different players in the lineup, matching a season-high for both home runs and extra-base hits.
Auburn’s one-through-five hitters went a combined 9-for-15 with seven runs and eight RBIs, with Bristol Carter, Chase Fralick, and Eric Guevara each blasting a longball. Bub Terrell recorded three hits on the night.
Fralick got the scoring started with a three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning. It was his second three-run homer in the last three games and his fourth of the season, a team-best.
Auburn pitcher Jake Marciano tossed six scoreless innings en route to his second win in four starts. He allowed three hits with a walk and six strikeouts.
Auburn added to its lead in the fourth with a two-run home run from Carter. Mason McCraine pulled a triple down the line in right beforeCarter drove them both in with his second homer of the season.
Leading 5-0 in the fifth, Auburn took advantage of a Winthrop fielding miscue to add five runs. Rembert drove in the first run of the inning on a sacrifice fly to right field before a fly ball to left with two outs was dropped, allowing two more runs to score. Guevara then capped off the scoring in the contest with his third home run of the season – a 413-foot bomb to deep left-center.
Ethan Harden relieved Marciano, turning in a clean seventh to end the game.
Game Two
Auburn used a stellar performance from starter Jackson Sanders on the rubber to cruise to a series-clinching win in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader against Winthrop.
Sanders tallied a season-high 10 strikeouts, retiring nine straight in the third through the fifth frame. He gave up two hits and one walk, tossing 61 strikes in 82 total pitches.
With Auburn out-hitting Winthrop 11-3, eight Tigers recorded hits as Chris Rembert led the way with three.
Auburn struck early again with a three-spot in the first frame. Carter led things off with a single and moved to second on an error. Chris Rembert recorded his second double of the season, giving Auburn a pair of runners in scoring position before Fralick and Guevara knocked them in.
Todd Clay capped the innings’ scoring efforts off with an RBI-double down the left field line, plating Guevara and Brandon McCraine, who reached on a walk.
With Sanders grooving on the mound, Auburn tallied another multiple-run inning in the sixth. Ethan Bingaman blasted a leadoff single to right field. With two on and one out, Rembert recorded his second baseknock of the game, pulling a single to left field to plate Bingaman.
Fralick singled through the right side to score Carter, who reached on an error earlier in the frame.
Sanders gave way to Drew Whalen in the eighth, and he continued rolling through the Eagles’ lineup, giving up just one hit with one strikeout.
Auburn added an insurance run in its last plate appearance with another RBI-single from Rembert, scoring Mason McCraine from second.
Game Three
Auburn registered its third double-digit hit performance of the weekend en route to an 8-1 win to complete the sweep on Saturday night.
The Tigers held a 2-1 advantage after three frames before inclement weather delayed action for just over two hours.
Winthrop scored its only run of the weekend in the top half of the third on a RBI-single, two at-bats after a leadoff single.
The Tigers responded with a two-RBI single off the bat of Mason McCraine – who registered five RBIs in the contest – in the home half to take a 2-1 edge into the delay.
When action resumed, Christian Chatteron got the nod on the bump in place of starter Alex Petrovic. Chatterton earned his second win of the season with three strikeouts in two and two-thirds innings of work.
Auburn added three runs in the seventh on a two-out, two-run double from Mason McCraine, and Lucas Steele singled to plate McCraine.
Freshman Taylor Belza blasted his first hit of the season over the wall in right to add another run in the eighth before Guevara drove in another on a sacrifice fly.
Jett Johnston and Ryan Hetzler combined for two and one-third innings to close things out, holding the Eagles at bay with three hits and three strikeouts.
Auburn will host UAB on Tuesday at 6 p.m. SECN+.
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