AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn turned in its first shutout of the season behind a solid start from right-hander Jordan Armstrong, ultimately defeating Yale, 9-0, Friday night at Plainsman Park.
"Jordan Armstrong gave us exactly what we needed heading into these games," head coach Butch Thompson said. "He did an amazing job for us. He was just really on against a team that looks like they can play pretty well."
Making his first start in an Auburn uniform, Armstrong (1-0, 0.00) earned his first career win, pitching 5.1 scoreless innings and striking out a career high 11 without issuing a walk.
"My approach is always the same, just attack the zone," Armstrong said. "It was good to compete, throw strikes, and have a good game."
The senior righty struck out the side in his first inning of work to set the tone for the outing and ultimately held a no hitter through two outs in the fifth. Armstrong registered a strikeout in each inning he took the mound and fanned multiple batters in four frames.
Yale (0-1) loaded the bases with three quick singles in the fifth, but Armstrong was able to leave all three stranded, recording his 10th strikeout of the game to end the threat.
Opposite Armstrong's start, the Auburn (4-1) offense continued to click, totaling its nine runs on a season-high 15 hits and marking the third straight game with 13 or more hits.
All nine starters recorded at least one hit in the contest, led by three apiece from Sonny DiChiara and Kason Howell. DiChiara collected multiple hits for the fourth time in five games, while Howell matched a career high in the category.
"The guys were seeing the ball pretty well," Thompson said. "That's why you saw us threaten to score almost every inning tonight."
"Our pitching did great tonight, which makes it a little more relaxing to go up in the box when you know your pitching is doing a good job," Howell added. "It's early in the season, but this is a close group of guys. We're pretty unified in what we want to do, and I like what we're seeing so far."
Right-hander John Armstrong entered in relief in the sixth inning, where he recorded two strikeouts to end the frame. Chase Allsup, Carson Swilling and Ben Bosse, making his Auburn debut, followed for the Tigers, combining for six strikeouts without allowing a hit.
Bosse struck out the side to end the game, giving Auburn's pitching staff 19 strikeouts in the contest. The 19 strikeouts were the most since recording 21 strikeouts in a 15-inning game against Arkansas on Apr. 5, 2019.
Brody Moore started the offensive action with a double in the first, and DiChiara immediately followed with a 396-foot home run, his second in as many home games this season.
Howell hit a one-out single in the second and swiped his first base of the season before Blake Rambusch drove him in on a two-strike single to left.
The Tigers added two more runs on back-to-back singles from Cole Foster and Howell in the third to extend the lead to 5-0.
Leading 6-0 in the seventh, Auburn took advantage of a Yale fielding miscue, scoring a pair of runs in the frame before capping off the scoring in the contest on Bryson Ware's RBI double in the eighth.
The Tigers and Bulldogs turn around for game two of the three-game series Saturday at 2 p.m. CT at Plainsman Park.
Armstrong, Tigers shut out Yale in series opener
Grace Schinsing / Auburn Athletics