Nov. 12, 2016
AUBURN, Ala. ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" Freshman Conor Davis drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the eighth inning to clinch the 2016 Auburn Fall Classic for the Blue team Saturday at Plainsman Park.
Welby Malczewski earned the win surrendering two hits and zero runs in 1.1 innings.
"I think sitting back for a second day in a row, to feel the old adage of pitching and defense, and how much focus we have put on that in 13 months and to actually see it was great," Auburn Head Coach Butch Thompson said. "There were game-changing defensive plays. Casey Mize and Davis Daniel came out in great starts and pounded the strike zone. With that great defense that was played on both sides, that's why they carried a 0-0 score into the eighth and had to go extra innings basically."
Sophomore Casey Mize got the start for Blue, delivering a game-high five strikeouts with no runs allowed in 4.2 innings. Cole Lipscomb pitched 1.2 scoreless innings in relief.
Luke Jarvis and Bowen McGuffin had two hits apiece for Blue. Jay Estes scored the winning run off of Andrew Mitchell's walk. Senior Sam Gillikin led the way for the Orange with two hits.
"The freebie component has just not been there," Thompson said. "The pitchers and defense have been just so solid. We had 24 hard-hit balls today in a baseball game that had no runs score, which is crazy. Nobody kicked the ball. The defense was so clean. There weren't multiple walks in any inning that are ingredients to be big innings. We eliminated that and raised our game to a level of pitching and defense. I hope this is a sign to come, because this makes our program get better quickly."
Orange starting pitcher freshman Davis Daniel surrendered only four hits in 5.0 innings with no runs and no walks on 64 pitches. Junior Calvin Coker took the loss allowing the game's lone run and three hits in 2.0 innings.
The two teams will wrap up the fall schedule with a final scrimmage on Sunday at 2:15 pm.