AUBURN, Ala. - No. 20 Auburn used timely hitting and solid pitching and defense to defeat Alabama, 3-2, Friday night at Plainsman Park.
Brooks Carlson hit the go-ahead double in the bottom of the sixth, and Auburn's relief duo of John Armstrong and Blake Burkhalter held Alabama scoreless in the final 3.2 frames to secure the series-opening win in front of a sellout crowd.
"It's always good to win the first game of the series," head coach Butch Thompson said. "We're so engaged. I wish we could go ahead and start a tenth inning or game two of the series."
Tied 2-2 with one out and two strikes in the sixth, Carlson shot a double the other way down the first-base line to score Bobby Peirce, who had stolen second earlier in the at-bat, and give Auburn a 3-2 lead. The go-ahead hit was Carlson's third game-tying or go-ahead hit in the sixth inning or later this season.
"I know it was pretty ugly, but it did the job," Carlson said. "With two strikes right there I was just trying to get a ball hit to the right side. Just kind of short and sweet. I saw the ball deep, but it worked and did the job. I was just glad to help my team."
After entering in relief of Mason Barnett and recording the final two outs in the sixth, Armstrong (1-0, 1.59) ultimately tied a season high with 2.2 innings pitched in his first career win. The righty faced the minimum in his outing, striking out three and getting three groundouts, one of which was the Tigers' third double play of the game to end the eighth inning.
"It feels good getting my team in a place to win," Armstrong said. "Putting up two zeros is huge, but the win is even better. If we keep winning, nothing else matters."
"For Armstrong to make that pitch and put trust in us behind him to get that double play is awesome," senior shortstop Brody Moore said.
Burkhalter entered for the final frame, earning his SEC-best 12th save of the season with two strikeouts before inducing a pop up to second in shallow right field to end the game.
"This is good for our pitching and defense to win us a ballgame," Thompson said. "We scratched up a few runs, but this was good for our three pitchers to come out and throw great."
Tied 0-0 in the bottom of the fifth, the Tigers (34-16, 14-11 SEC) got on the scoreboard with a pair of two-out runs. Cole Foster won a nine-pitch at-bat with a two-out single to left-center to score Moore from second. Immediately following, Blake Rambusch hit a first-pitch double to bring in Foster from first and double the lead.
Alabama (27-23, 10-15 SEC) answered in the top of the sixth, tying the ballgame, 2-2, with a single and a home run to right center. However, that's the last the Tigers would surrender in the game.
Barnett earned the start and allowed two runs on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts in a season-high 5.1 innings. The junior righty faced only three over the minimum through 5.1 innings before running into some trouble in the sixth. However, Armstrong picked up the pieces.
Rambusch led the way from the plate, going 2-for-4 with a RBI and marking his 24th multi-hit game of the season.
Game two between Auburn and Alabama is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. CT.
Pitching propels No. 20 Auburn to series-opening win against Alabama
