AUBURN, Ala. – No. 8 Auburn continued its strong start to the season with a 17-1 win in its first midweek game against Oakland Wednesday night at Plainsman Park.
The Tigers (5-0) faced the first deficit of the season after a leadoff home run started the top of the second inning. However, the Tigers answered with seven runs on six hits in the home half of the frame and ultimately scored 17 unanswered runs to end the game.
Auburn tallied 16 more hits Wednesday night, marking the team's fourth straight game with 10 or more hits. The pitching staff also struck out 13 batters, marking the first time the team has struck out double-digit batters in five straight games since 2004.
"We're playing a lot of guys, and I think that's important," head coach Butch Thompson said. "We're seeing something every day that we can keep building on or excites us. It's a lot of fun right now watching Ryan Bliss and Rankin Woley do their thing. They're just seeing the ball well."
Bliss and Woley combined to go 7-for-12 with three doubles, three runs and eight RBI in the contest. Bliss turned in a career-high with four hits and drove in four runs for the second time this season. Woley recorded his third multi-hit game of the season and matched Bliss with a career-high four RBI.
"Coach Thompson gave me a great opportunity to play here at Auburn, and I'm just taking it all in, just working hard," Bliss said. "I do, if I'm healthy enough, want to play every day. I just love the game of baseball, and I just want to be out there helping my team compete - compete for Auburn, the community and all the fans, and just play ball."
Garrett Farquhar picked up right where he left off Sunday with a RBI single to right field to start the scoring. Judd Ward then followed a RBI single from Matt Scheffler and double from Brayton Brown with a sacrifice fly to center before Conor Davis and Woley capped off the frame with two-run and one-run doubles, respectively.
Trace Bright (1-0, 3.00) earned the win in the designated start as he allowed one run on three hits with one walk and six strikeouts in his Auburn debut. Five Auburn relievers in Garrett Wade, Carson Skipper, Seb Thomas, Drew Baker and Mason Barnett combined to hold Oakland scoreless in the last six innings.
"That was pretty exciting to watch somebody other than Cody Greenhill command the last three outs and just come in and drive the baseball in the strike zone," Thompson said of Barnett's ninth-inning effort.
With the pitching staff doing its job, the Auburn offense came back to life by scoring 10 runs in its final three at-bats. Woley ripped his second double of the game into the gap in right-center to make it an 8-1 ballgame in the sixth. It marked Woley's sixth double of the season and second game with multiple doubles.
Bliss accounted for the scoring in the seventh inning with a bases-clearing double that extended the lead to 11-1.
Johnny Ceccoli started a six-run eighth inning with a pinch-hit home run to right field. Bliss drove in his fourth run of the game on a single up the middle before Austin Miller turned in his first career hit and RBI with a base knock to left. Woley ripped one down the left-field line to follow, and Ceccoli came back around to record his second hit and RBI of the inning.
Scheffler also matched a career high with three hits in the game and threw out an Oakland runner at each base.
"That's when a catcher shows up, a catcher with maturity, "Thompson said. "He had a great offensive night, but again, (he) threw a guy out at all three bases tonight that helped end an inning. There's no doubt that Oakland scores more if he doesn't play catch on those three throws."
Auburn has a quick turnaround before welcoming UCF (3-1) to Plainsman Park for a three-game series this weekend.