Feb. 9, 2007
Final Stats | Photo Gallery 1 
| Photo Gallery 2
AUBURN, Ala. -
Box Score in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Sophomore pitcher Bryan Woodall had a day to remember in Auburn's season-opener, scattering three hits over 7.0 innings as the Auburn baseball team kicked off the 2007 season with a 17-0 win over Hofstra on Friday afternoon.
Eight out of Auburn's nine starting position players reached base in the game with senior Bruce Edwards (4-for-6, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 SB) and freshman Ross Smith (4-for-5, 2B, 2 R) leading the way at the plate.
"It was great to see the guys get a lot of team at-bats and it just feels great to get the win," Edwards said.
Josh Donaldson (3-for-5, 2B, HR, 3 R, 4 RBI) blasted a two-run home run in the first inning off of Hofstra starter Ryan Dunn (0-1) as Auburn built a three-run lead after one. Auburn tacked on a single run in the second on Edwards' sacrifice fly to left and put two more on the board in the third as freshman Robert Brooks (2-for-5, 3B, 2 R, 2 RBI) roped a RBI triple to left-center and freshman Eric Skinner (2-for-5, R, 4 RBI) followed that with a sac fly to right.
"I was really happy with the way we situationally hit tonight. Every time we got a guy to third base our guys did a nice job of taking a RBI approach. I thought we moved runners very well," Auburn Head Coach Tom Slater said.
With a 6-0 cushion after three full innings, Woodall (1-0) went to work, retiring 12 of the next 13 hitters as he stayed on the hill for the longest outing of his career and the second win of his Auburn career.
"I just tried to throw a lot of strikes. I stayed on top of my ball and stayed down in the zone and it felt really good," Woodall said. "Hofstra is really scrappy and they like to put the ball in play so getting ahead of them in the count cut their swings down a little bit and helped me because I am a ground-ball type-pitcher."
"Bryan Woodall was outstanding and gave us a great starting effort," Slater said. "Bryan is going to get a lot of ground balls for us and we are going to have to be ready to play defense behind him, which we did."
With the game nearly in hand, Auburn sent 12 hitters to the plate in the bottom of the seventh, running through three Hofstra pitcher and scoring eight runs on five hits and four walks.
The two teams return to Plainsman Park for a 2 pm CT contest on Saturday afternoon. Starting for Auburn will be sophomore RHP Justin Bristow while Hofstra will counter with senior RHP Will DeVito.
GAME NOTES
Woodall's 7.0 innings was the most by an Auburn starter on opening day since 1996 when Ryan Halla went 7.0 innings in a 10-1 victory over VCU ... The 21 hits was also the most by an Auburn team on opening day, dating back to 1979, while the 17 runs was one shy of the school mark, set in 2005 as Auburn downed Hofstra, 18-5, on that day ... The shutout also marked the seventh time Auburn opened up the year with a shutout and the first time they have done it in back-to-back seasons ... Edwards stole two bases during the game and has now collected 17 straight steals without being caught ... The last time Edwards was gunned down was on May 22, 2005, vs. Alabama ... Auburn is now 44-15 on opening day ... Auburn is 10-0 all-time against Hofstra.