April 18, 2012
AUBURN, Ala. - Trey Cochran-Gill struck out a career high seven in his second career start, holding Alabama A&M off the board through seven innings as Auburn won, 7-1, on Wednesday night at Plainsman Park. The win upped Auburn's record to 21-16 on the year with a three=game series against two-time defending National Champion No. 6 South Carolina on the horizon this weekend.
"You can't say enough about the job Trey did tonight," Auburn Head Coach John Pawlowski said. "In his second collegiate start he gave us seven strong innings. Trey is one of those guys that had been waiting for his opportunity and when he has gotten the opportunity he's taken full advantage of it. He threw his fastball for strikes, it was down in the zone, he threw his slider for strikes and showed his change-up. I felt like he was in command today and that was one of the biggest differences."
Cochran-Gill (3-1), who was named the starter on Wednesday morning, had never worked more than 3 2/3 innings before his seven-inning effort. He was nearly flawless for the first seven innings, holding Alabama A&M to just two hits and two walks before departing following a leadoff double to Dylan Johnson to start the eighth. Though Johnson would come around to score, it did little to diminish the work that Cochran-Gill had done.
"I felt real good. For the most part I had all three pitches working," Cochran-Gill said. "I just tried to keep my composure and make my pitches."
Auburn jumped all over Alabama A&M (8-32) starter Sanchez Tucker (0-3), battering him for three runs in both the first and third innings. Auburn's three runs in the first came courtesy of a two-run home run from Ryan Tella and back-to-back doubles from Garrett Cooper and Cullen Wacker. Cooper would finish the night 3-for-5 with three doubles, becoming the first Auburn player to collect three doubles in a game since Josh Donaldson did it against Kentucky on April 2, 2006.
Creede Simpson's one-out RBI single started another three-run inning for Auburn in the third. Simpson, who was 3-for-3 with a pair of RBIs, would score on a Jay Gonzalez single to make it 5-0. Gonzalez then scored on a Dan Glevenyak double as Auburn finished the game with a season-high seven doubles and nine extra-base hits.
Justin Bryant tripled and scored in the seventh to cap the Auburn scoring.
Auburn and South Carolina's series starts Friday at 6pm and continues Saturday at 3pm and Sunday at 1pm. Saturday's game will air live on SportSouth.
Auburn 7, Alabama A&M 1 (Apr 18, 2012 at Auburn, AL)
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Alabama A&M......... 000 000 010 - 1 3 3 (8-32)
Auburn.............. 303 000 10X - 7 14 2 (21-16)
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Win-Trey Cochran-Gill(3-1) Loss-TUCKER,Sanchez(0-3) T-2:05 A-1829
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