Nov. 13, 2016
AUBURN, Ala. ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" Junior outfielder Bowen McGuffin homered and three Blue pitchers combined to shutout Orange 6-0 and sweep the 2016 Auburn Fall Classic at Plainsman Park.
"Today was the culmination of several different things ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" it's the end of the fall and it's the end of the 'Classic' series. I thought the guys played hard," Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said. "It's really neat once you create this game environment and you see guys step up.
"We had that on the mound and in the left side of our defense. I thought Luke Jarvis and Josh Anthony played tremendous defense. Sam Gillikin, after not playing a year of baseball, all his stars aligned for this series. Bowen McGuffin hit a big home run. It's good to see some guys step up and play really well. All in all, we got better this week and this fall. This team, from where we started on August 16 to now, got better and that's really all we are focused on."
McGuffin's homer opened the scoring in the fourth inning and was the first hit allowed by orange starter Ryan Watson. He was the first of three consecutive batters to reach against the freshman Watson and ultimately chase him from the game.
Watson struck out three with three walks and two runs allowed on two hits. He was charged with the loss.
Christian Camacho (W, 1-0) started for Blue and scattered three hits with two strikeouts in 3.0 innings. Elliott Anderson (2.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R) and Joe Gahm (2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R) finished the shutout.
Blue added two more in the fifth on a bases-loaded walk to freshman Conor Davis and a RBI groundout from junior outfielder Jonah Todd for a 4-0 lead.
Orange's best opportunity was in the fifth when it loaded the bases with one out against Blue reliever Anderson. Orange used a leadoff walk to JJ Shaffer followed by singles from Damon Haecker and Daniel Robert to load it up, but couldn't push anything across.
Robert finished the day 3-for-4 with a double and pitched a scoreless seventh with two strikeouts. Gillikin added a hit in the seventh to give him five for the weekend.
Jonathan Foster had two hits including a double for Orange.
Blue team captain @theblakelogan talks about his team's success in the series.#AUFallClassic pic.twitter.com/ofW82LEpoo
- Auburn Baseball (@AuburnBaseball) November 13, 2016
Blue tacked on the final two runs for the 6-0 lead in the sixth when Jeremy Johnson's slide beat a relay throw home following a double from Jay Estes and a wild pitch by Orange reliever Grant Warner allowed Estes to come in and score.
Johnson and Estes (double) both scored twice with a stolen base apiece. Todd and Will Holland each recorded a stolen base.
Five relievers followed Watson on the mound for Orange.