No. 9 Auburn baseball began its season with an opening weekend sweep of Youngstown State to begin the 77th season on the Plains.
The Tigers won a pitcher’s duel 2-1 in the season opener on Friday, captured a walk-off 2-1 win on a wild pitch in the first half of Saturday’s doubleheader and exploded for 20 hits in the nightcap on Saturday for a 17-2 win.
Auburn’s pitching staff recorded 43 strikeouts in the series, marking the most in a series under a Butch Thompson-led Tigers squad.
Here is a recap of the Tigers’ weekend:
Game one
Auburn won a pitcher’s duel on Friday night, recording the most strikeouts in a game (17) since 2022 while relinquishing just one run on two hits for a 2-1 win over Youngstown State in the season opener Friday night at Plainsman Park.
In his Auburn debut, southpaw pitcher Jake Marciano fanned the first five batters he faced en route to a career-high 12-strikeout performance in five innings of work. Youngstown State broke his rhythm with a solo home run in the fourth, but Marciano responded with four consecutive strikeouts, recording the most strikeouts from an Auburn pitcher since Tanner Burns in 2019 (15).
Transfer Drew Whalen earned the win in his orange and blue debut, while Garrett Brewer recorded three straight outs in the ninth for the save.
Auburn got on the board in the home half of the fifth as Chris Rembert ripped a two-out single to left, scoring Ethan Bingamin, who reached on an error earlier in the frame.
Eric Guevara led off the eighth with a double to right-center and scored on the ensuing pitch as Chase Fralick singled through the right side.
Whalen worked three scoreless innings in relief, but allowed the first two Penguins to reach scoring position before Brewer entered in a no-out situation. Brewer recorded two straight strikeouts and got the final out on a flyout to center.
Guevara led the Tigers with two hits as Rembert, Fralick and Cade Belyeu each tallied one.
Game two
Auburn took the series with a 2-1 win in the first half of Saturday’s doubleheader on a walk-off wild pitch in the 10th frame at Plainsman Park.
With the bases loaded and one out, Lucas Steele took a breaking pitch that got away from Youngstown’s catcher to plate Fralick for the win.
Auburn’s pitching staff was on par once again, recording 14 strikeouts on five hits. Ryan Hetzler earned the win after one inning of work in the 10th, where he struck out the side on 10 pitches. Jackson Sanders earned the start, giving up two hits, one run and eight strikeouts in six frames.
Jett Johnston came in relief and fanned three on 41 pitches with three hits in three innings of work.
The Tigers did not get on the board until the ninth inning after Cade Belyeu doubled down the left field line to lead things off. Ethan Bingamen walked, and Steele reached on a fielder’s choice bunt to load the bases. Bristol Carter plated Belyeu on a flyout to shallow right.
Auburn tallied nine hits, left 10 runners on base, went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, and was 1-for-4 with runners on third and less than two outs.
Game Three
Auburn’s bats came alive in the third game of the series on Saturday with a staggering 17 runs on 20 hits to record a 17-1 win in a seven-inning affair at Plainsman Park.
Highlighted by an eight-run frame in the fifth, Auburn plated a run in every inning except the third. The Tigers scored two runs in the first, three in the second, one in the fourth and three in the sixth in addition to the 8-run barrage in the fifth.
Alex Petrovic got the nod on the rubber and recorded the win in five innings of work. He fanned nine Penguins and gave up just one hit. LJ Cormier, Ethan Harden and Connor Gatwood finished it off in relief. Cormier gave up one hit in one inning, and Harden gave up two runs on two hits in two-thirds inning. Gatwood slammed the door shut with one strikeout in the seventh.
Youngstown State tallied two runs in the ninth after a single and a walk gave it two runners on base. A single up the middle and a wild pitch plated the two before Gatwood struck out James Carlson.
Terrell, Fralick and Mason McCraine each recorded a trio of hits, with the former two recording home runs.
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