Bright tosses gem in 6-1 win vs. Texas A&M

ROUND ROCK, TX. – Sophomore right-hander Trace Bright pitched 6.0 shutout innings as No. 17 Auburn capped off the Round Rock Classic with a 6-1 win against Texas A&M Sunday at Dell Diamond.
 
"I thought, for the circumstances, we responded well," head coach Butch Thompson said. "We have much work to do. This was a figure it out weekend. We'll have to go make some of those adjustments and apply them moving forward, but I think it's going to help us grow as a ball club by coming out to Round Rock this weekend."
 
Bright (2-0, 0.82) earned his second win of the week and turned in the best outing of his Auburn career in his first weekend start. The Montgomery native allowed three hits with two walks and one strikeout.
 
"Coming out of the bullpen and warmups, you have to be ready," Bright said. "You have eight warmup pitches to adjust on the game mound, and you've got to be ready to go from the start. That was a big adjustment I had to make from Tuesday. I kind of struggled in that first inning, and I knew I had to set the tone for the team in that first inning today."
 
Bright faced one over the minimum through four innings before working around a pair of baserunners in the fifth and another in the sixth to end his outing.  
 
"The game ball definitely goes to Trace Bright," Thompson added. "Command is the word. He had authority over the mound. He had authority over the baseball. Everybody playing behind him responded to it."
 
Texas A&M (4-4) scored 20 runs on 21 hits in its first two games of the Round Rock Classic, but the Tigers (6-2) held the Aggies to one run on four hits Sunday.
 
After popping up to second in the first inning Saturday, Tyler Miller reached in eight straight plate appearances to end the weekend, going 7-for-7 with four runs, a double, triple, homer and four RBI.  
 
"Tyler Miller just keeps swinging the bat," Thompson said. "He had another good day swinging the bat."
 
Along with Miller, Kason Howell also stayed hot at the plate, and the duo sparked their own two-out rally with a double followed by a RBI single to start the scoring in the top of the fourth.
 
With the bases loaded on one out in the seventh, Steven Williams continued to swing the bat well and drove in a pair on a single to right to extend the lead to 3-0.
 
Miller drove in another on a RBI single in the eighth, and a dropped fly ball to center field later in the inning made it 5-0.
 
Rankin Woley capped off the Tigers' scoring in the contest as he followed Ryan Bliss' double with a two-out base hit to left in the ninth.
 
Williams extended his hitting streak to four games and drove in a run for the fifth straight game, going 2-for-5 with two RBI. Howell reached base three times in the contest on one hit and two walks and has now reached three or more times in four straight games.
 
Blake Burkhalter and Carson Skipper turned in their third and fourth scoreless outings of the season, respectively. Freshman lefty Cam Hill made his second appearance on the mound and finished the game for the Tigers.
 
Auburn returns to Plainsman Park to take on Jacksonville State Tuesday at 4 p.m. CT.