March 4, 2008
Auburn, Ala. -
Scott Shuman struckout a career-high seven hitters in his first career start as Auburn cruised to a 10-2 win over Davidson on Tuesday night at Plainsman Park. Luke Greinke hit a leadoff home run for Auburn as the Tigers snapped a four-game slide with the win to move to 5-4 on the year.
"Scott really threw the ball well. I thought his slider was better and he threw strikes. He commanded the zone with his fastball and his slider had more depth to it," Auburn Head Coach Tom Slater said.
Shuman went 6.0 innings, scattering five hits and surrendering just two runs, retiring eight of the first 10 hitters he faced to earn the victory in his first career start.
"It was good to come out and get a convincing win," Shuman said.
Greinke's (1-for-1, 2 BB, 3 R, 2 RBI) second home run of the season cleared the Green Monster in left to stake Auburn to the early a 1-0 lead.
With Auburn up 3-0, Kevin Patterson (1-for-4) belted his team-leading third home run of the season to lead off the fourth. Auburn would add two more runs in the frame as Greinke hit a sacrifice fly to score Brian Fletcher (0-for-3, BB) and Mike Bianucci's (1-for-3, R, 3 RBI) double off the wall in left scored Ryan Jenkins.
Bianucci, who extended his hitting streak to 15 games with the double, added a sacrifice fly in the sixth and Hunter Morris (1-for-4, R) drove in two with a triple down the line in right. David Cunningham's (2-for-4) groundout in Auburn's next at-bat put the finishing touches on Auburn's victory.
Cory Luckie earned his first career save by working the final three innings, allowing a one-out double in the ninth for the only hit recorded against him.
Chris Kennedy took the loss, allowing eight runs (six earned) on 10 hits and four walks in 5.0 innings.
The two teams will play the final game of the two-game series on Wednesday at 6pm CT. Luke Greinke (1-1) will get the start for Auburn while Ian Horkley (0-1) goes to the hill for Davidson (3-6).