AUBURN, Ala. – No. 18 Auburn cruised to its seventh straight win as the Tigers defeated UTSA, 6-0, Friday night at Plainsman Park.
The shutout was Auburn's (12-2) fourth in its last six games, marking the first time in the modern era dating back to 1949 the Tigers have accomplished the feat.
Sophomore right-hander Tanner Burns (3-0, 0.68) picked up his third straight win. Burns tossed 7.0 scoreless innings and allowed just four hits with one walk and 10 strikeouts.
"You really love those guys you think are consummate winners because when you're not your best, I'm standing before you with a 10-strikeout, one-walk performance," head coach Butch Thompson said. "(Tanner) used the breaking ball a little bit more and let his defense work for him. Still pitched really, really well."
In his last two starts, Burns has struck out 25 batters and issued one walk in 16.0 innings of work. Prior to issuing a walk in the seventh inning tonight, it had been 20.1 innings since Burns walked his last batter. During that span, the Decatur, Alabama native registered 32 strikeouts.
"It's very competitive," Burns said of his outing on Friday night. "I think I needed that before going into Tennessee, because Tennessee is really hot right now. Just getting those at-bats and facing some adversity really helped me get more prepared for my next start."
A four-run bottom of the third was all the Tigers would need as Burns struck out a pair of batters in each of his first four innings and fanned another in both the fifth and sixth to reach double digits.
Judd Ward led off the third with a single and advanced to third on one of Matt Scheffler's two knocks in the game. Ward then came home to score on a ball misplayed in shallow left field, and Rankin Woley drove in a pair with a single up the middle. Ryan Bliss capped off the frame with a sacrifice fly to right field.
With Elliott Anderson on in relief of Burns in the eighth inning, the Auburn offense added a pair of insurance runs on a RBI single from Conor Davis and run-scoring balk.
Anderson closed out the Roadrunners with two perfect innings. The Cartersville, Georgia, native threw 19 pitches, including 13 strikes.
Auburn and UTSA (7-7) will conclude the three-game series with a doubleheader Saturday starting at 2 p.m. CT. Game two will begin approximately 45 minutes after the conclusion of game one.