Auburn baseball notebook – Feb. 27

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Elaina Eichorn/AU Athletics

WEEK AT A GLANCEOverall: 5-2
Streak: L1

Last Week's Results:
Wednesday – vs. Troy: W, 13-1
Friday – vs. Yale: W, 9-0
Saturday (Game 1) – vs. Yale: W, 4-3
Saturday (Game 2) – vs. Yale: L, 4-5 (10)

This Week's Schedule:
Tuesday – vs. Alabama State (6 p.m.)
Wednesday – vs. UAB (6 p.m.)
Friday – vs. Rhode Island (6 p.m.)
Saturday (DH) – vs. Rhode Island (2 p.m.)
Sunday – vs. Rhode Island (1 p.m.)
 OFFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEKSonny DiChiara - Sr. - 1B - Hoover, Ala.

4 GP/GS, .538/.611/1.462, 7-for-13, 8 R, 3 2B, 3 HR, 7 RBI 3 BB, 1 HBP

  • Collected a hit in all three contests, extending his hit streak to seven games to begin his Auburn career.
  • Turned in his third and fourth multi-hit games against Troy and in the series opener against Yale.
  • Drove in a season high four runs against the Trojans and tallied a season high three hits in the opener against the Bulldogs.
  • Homered in three straight games to begin the week, marking his first three games in an Auburn uniform at Plainsman Park.
  • Reached base in 11 of 12 plate appearances from the final game in Arlington until his first three at-bats in the series opener against Yale.

Kason Howell – Sr. – CF – Argyle, Texas

4 GP/GS, .412/.474/588, 7-for-15, 5 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 2 BB, 1 SB

  • Matched a career best with three hits in back-to-back games, going 6-for-9 with four RBI in the first two games of the series against Yale.
  • Drove in multiple runs for the second and third time this season.
  • Hit a walk-off home run to lead off the bottom of the ninth in Saturday's series clinching win against the Bulldogs.
  • The walk-off homer was the first of Howell's career and the first walk-off homer by an Auburn player since Steven Williams in the 2019 Atlanta Regional.

PITCHERS OF THE WEEKJordan Armstrong – Sr. – RHP – McDonough, Ga.

1 GS, 1-0, 0.00, 5.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 11 K

  • Made his first start in an Auburn uniform and earned the win while going a then team-high 5.1 innings.
  • Held a no-hitter through 4.2 innings and turned in his second straight scoreless outing to begin his Auburn career (9.1 IP).
  • Struck out the side in his first inning of work en route to ultimately striking out a career best 11 in the contest, the most by an Auburn pitcher since Bailey Horn also struck out 11 against Chicago State on Mar. 8, 2020.
  • Struck out multiple batters in four of the six innings he took the mound.

Trace Bright – Jr. – RHP – Montgomery, Ala.

1 GS, 0-0, 0.00, 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K

  • Turned in his second straight scoreless start to begin the season, matching a career best in innings pitched in game two of Saturday's doubleheader.
  • His outing marked the longest by an Auburn pitcher this season and was the first quality start by a Tiger hurler this season.
  • Struck out a season-high six batters, one shy of his career best from a season ago.

TEAM NOTESFollowing the season-opening loss, Auburn went on a five-game win streak from Feb. 19-26 and outscored its opponents 40-6 during the span … the Tigers pitching staff has allowed 14 runs in the first seven games of the season, marking the fewest runs allowed through seven games since allowing 10 runs through seven games in 1996 … Auburn struck out 19 batters in the series opening win against Yale … the 19 strikeouts were the most in a game since striking out 20 in a 15-inning game against Arkansas in 2019 … the 19 strikeouts were tied for the most in a nine-inning game in the Stat Crew era (since at least 1994) … the 1997 team struck out 19 batters on two occasions … Auburn didn't allow an extra-base hit in four games from Feb. 19-25 … it's the longest streak without allowing an extra-base hit in the Stat Crew era … after scoring two runs on six hits in the first two games of the season, the Auburn offense scored 34 runs on 41 hits in three games against Kansas State (Feb. 20), Troy (Feb. 23) and Yale (Feb. 25) … the Tigers have homered in four straight games to start the home schedule after failing to homer in three games in Arlington last weekend … one of those home runs was a walk-off homer from Kason Howell, marking the first walk-off homer by an Auburn player since Steven Williams in the 2019 Atlanta Regional … Sonny DiChiara homered in three straight games to begin his home career at Plainsman Park and has accounted for nine of the team's 17 extra-base hits this season … Auburn's season-opening crowd of 3,759 against Troy Wednesday marked the largest Opening Day crowd since 2013.