AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn pitching staff struck out 17 batters to lead the No. 15 Tigers to a 10-1 win against Alabama A&M on Tuesday night at Plainsman Park.
Auburn's 17 strikeouts were the most since the Tigers struck out 21 batters against Charleston Southern on Mar. 17, 2009.
Auburn improves to 3-1 on the season and 10-0 all-time against Alabama A&M with the victory. The Tigers have now outscored the Bulldogs 110-18 in the 10 games.
"We're thankful to get a win," head coach Butch Thompson said. "The highlights for me were Carson Skipper shoving the ball in the strike zone. He had eight strikeouts and no walks and got to 55 pitches before he got to 16 balls. I just think that's what the doctor ordered."
Skipper (1-0, 0.00) drew his first career start and earned the win for the Tigers. The freshman left-hander struck out a season-high eight batters in 4.0 innings and didn't issue a walk. He fanned five consecutive batters in the second and third innings.
"It's been a big confidence boost for me," Skipper said of his first two collegiate outings. "To come out and be able to pitch like I have. I know I'm not going to always strike a lot of guys out, but going out there and getting outs and helping my team do what we need to do is big for me."
Piggybacking off the freshman's performance, Elliott Anderson, Will Morrison and Blake Schilleci combined to pitch 5.0 scoreless innings and allowed only two hits with nine strikeouts. Anderson continued the momentum from his scoreless outing opening night, while Morrison struck out five of eight batters faced and Schilleci fanned two of three batters faced.
Alabama A&M was first to get on the scoreboard with an unearned run in the top of the first. However, it didn't take Auburn long to respond as Rankin Woley drove in Steven Williams on a two-out double in the home half.
"Last week I kind of got a little carried away with spinning off some balls, and I wasn't staying within myself and my game," Woley said. "A lot of my game is up the middle and opposite field. As Coach Gross always says, 'think small and let the big things happen.' Tonight, that was my plan with the wind blowing so hard that I wanted to stay on the right side of the field the whole night."
The Tigers used a four-run third inning that included a RBI double from Williams, a sacrifice fly from Woley and a pair of RBI from Ryan Bliss and Everett Lau to put the team in front for good.
Chase Hall's first hit in an Auburn uniform came in the three-run bottom of the fifth inning in the form of a RBI double to deep center field. Bliss also drove in a run on a RBI single and Will Holland drew a bases-loaded walk in the frame.
An inning later, Hall drove in another run on a deep fly ball to center field that was misplayed by the defender and allowed two runs score.
Four players saw their first action in an Auburn uniform on Tuesday night, including Brody Moore, Ed Johnson, Jarrett Eaton and Devin Warner. Moore's first collegiate at-bat came as a triple after sending one to the right-field wall.
First baseman Brett Olson and Schilleci both made their first appearances of the season against Alabama A&M.
"We were able to get a bunch of guys in the ballgame," Thompson added. "We weren't able to do that in a three-game series against Georgia Southern, so I thought that was tremendous to get a lot of guys that we want to get their first experience."
Eight Tigers recorded a hit in the game, including multi-hit efforts from Williams, Woley, Kason Howell and Lau. Woley finished 3-for-3 with a run and two RBI and was a home run shy of the cycle. Bliss and Hall also drove in a pair of runs in the contest.
Auburn and Alabama A&M will conclude the two-game midweek series tomorrow at 2 p.m. CT at Plainsman Park. Fans can use their tickets to the originally scheduled 4 p.m. game to enter the stadium.