AUBURN, Ala. – No. 17 Auburn used a four-run fourth inning to catapult itself to a 5-3 win in the series opener against USC Friday night at Plainsman Park.
Seven of the nine starting position players recorded a hit, including two apiece from Ike Irish and Cole Foster, and four arms combined to hold USC to its lowest offensive output of the season.
"I thought our guys did a nice job," head coach Butch Thompson said. "We hung around, had a couple of big hits. Everybody competed. Everybody played their role and gave us something. It was just a good team win for us tonight."
John Armstrong (1-0, 0.00) recorded the final out of the fourth inning and got the win, while Will Cannon pitched the final 1.1 innings and earned his first save.
Chase Allsup made his second start of the season and pitched a career high 3.2 innings, and Tanner Bauman ate up an important 3.2 innings in the middle of the game to help the Tigers maintain the lead.
"I just love it, man," Bauman said of the competitive atmosphere. "I'm ultra-competitive, and I live for it. When I get up on the mound, I just want to go to work for the guys that are behind me and make it as quick as possible so they can get back in there and get some runs."
USC (3-2) threatened in the early going with a pair of baserunners in the second and three more in the third, but Allsup worked his way around the traffic to hold the Trojans in check. A single, hit batter and walk loaded the bases with nobody out to start the third, but the sophomore righty buckled down and got out of the inning unscathed with a strikeout, foul out and flyout to left.
An inning later, the Trojans started the scoring with a sacrifice fly to center, but Auburn (4-1) answered immediately with a four-run bottom of the frame. Justin Kirby and Irish started the inning with a walk and hit-by-pitch, and Bryson Ware sacrificed both into scoring position. Foster then ripped a two-strike pitch back up the middle to score both and put the Tigers ahead. Later in the inning with the bases loaded and two outs, Bobby Peirce hit a two-RBI single to left to extend the lead to 4-1.
"The last week I haven't been hitting the way I've wanted to, and just coming out early and working with Coach Gross has been crucial for us," Foster said. "We're just trying to keep it simple, stay within ourselves and not do too much."
"I thought Foster did an amazing job offensively," Thompson added. "He's been a little slow these first four games, but he came up big for us tonight."
Bauman entered the game in relief of Armstrong to start the fifth and set USC down in order to get his outing going.
The Trojans cut the deficit to 4-2 after a leadoff walk ultimately scored on a sacrifice fly in the sixth, but Bauman retire the side again in the seventh and the Tigers got the run back on a solo homer from Kirby in home half of the frame to increase the lead back to three. The long ball was Kirby's team best third of the season.
USC drew within two again in the eighth when a two-out walk came in to score on a RBI triple, but Cannon entered in relief and induced a ground ball to end the frame.
The Trojans started the ninth with a leadoff single, bringing the tying run to the plate with nobody out, but Cannon got a popup and strikeout to get within an out of ending the game. A two-out single put the tying run on base, but a groundout to Foster at short put the finishing touch on the series-opening win.
Game two between the Tigers and Trojans is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. It will be broadcast on the Auburn Sports Network and SEC Network+.
‘Everybody competed’: No. 17 Auburn takes series opener vs. USC
