AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn's Taylon Snow and Casey McCrackin paced the Tigers in their 7-2 win over Radford to finish the War Eagle Challenge undefeated.
Tay. Snow and McCrackin — the No. 1 and 2 hitters in the lineup and partners in the middle of the infield, defensively — combined to go 6-for-8 with three RBIs, a run scored and turned a double play as No. 20 Auburn moved to 22-4 on the season and 16-1 at Jane B. Moore Field.
"I thought we did some good things," Auburn head coach Mickey Dean said on the weekend. "We won six games, which is always good, but we still have some things we need to work on to be consistent."
For the third straight game, an Auburn pitcher recorded double-digit strikeouts as Lexie Handley set a season high with 10 in 5.2 innings pitched, which also set a season high for the Akron transfer. Handley's day started by striking out the first three Radford (7-13) batters she faced, before striking out one in the second and two during the third, fourth and fifth innings, respectively.
Handley was lifted with two in the sixth after 96 pitches as Ashlee Swindle tossed 29 pitches over the remaining 1.1 innings to close the door.
"It was fun out there today, it was a good day," said Handley. "We weren't really sure what was going to happen today with the weather, but it was fun, the weather was good and we played ball."
Auburn took the lead with two runs in the bottom of the first as Kendall Veach drew a bases-loaded walk then Aspyn Godwin plated a runner from third on a fielder's choice. After Radford struck for a single run in the fourth, the Tigers responded with small ball when Tay. Snow drove in a single with a single to centerfield after back-to-back bunt singles by Carmyn Greenwood and Morgan Podany.
The Auburn lead expanded the following inning as Tay. Snow plated Brittany Maresette and Justus Perry with a two-out, two-run double. Alyssa Rivera scored from second base on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Tannon Snow in the sixth, before Veach launched her third home run in two games during the next at bat.
Radford's scoring ended in the top of the seventh with a solo home run by Destiny Freeman.
Auburn will return to action on Wednesday, March 13 when the Tigers travel to Atlanta, Ga., to face Georgia State at 4 p.m. CST/5 p.m. EST.