AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn No. 14 held its opponent to two or fewer runs for the third straight game in a 7-2 win against UAB Tuesday night at Plainsman Park.
Six pitchers, including three who made their Auburn debuts, combined to hold the Blazers to the two runs on six hits with three walks and 11 strikeouts.
"I thought if we were going to have challenges tonight it would be from (pitching), but those guys did an amazing job," head coach Butch Thompson said "Griffin (Graves), we've been waiting for that outing for a long time, to see him perform well and attack. He really competed and filled up the zone."
Freshman lefty Griffin Graves (1-0, 0.00) earned the win with 2.0 innings of scoreless relief and a pair of strikeouts in his Auburn debut.
"The adrenaline was pretty crazy," Graves said of his collegiate debut. "I knew I was going out on the field with a great fanbase and great people, so I knew that those pressure moments that I had the best defense behind me to prepare for that. I was just going to go out there and trust my stuff, and it was a good outing.
"I was going out there to do my job, trust my defense, and just have fun playing the game," Graves added.
Conner McBride made his first start in an Auburn uniform and allowed one run on two hits with two walks and four strikeouts in 3.2 innings.
Auburn (4-0) fell behind for the first time this season as UAB (2-2) manufactured a run on a walk, bunt single, stolen base and RBI groundout in the top of the second.
However, the Tigers responded and took the lead with a pair of runs in their next at-bat. An infield single and hit batter started the inning and a one-out walk loaded the bases. Javon Hernandez then drew a bases-loaded walk to bring in the first run and Deric Fabian grounded out to third to score another.
Ike Irish hit a solo homer off the batter's eye, jumping off the bat at 112 miles per hour, to start the third and extend the lead to 3-1, and Auburn stranded a pair of baserunners thanks to a Hayden Murphy strikeout in the fourth.
With the pair of freshmen in Graves and Cam Tilly holding UAB scoreless in the middle frames, the Tigers added a run on another RBI groundout from Fabian in the sixth before capping things off with three runs in the seventh. Hernandez drew another bases-loaded walk to make it a 5-1 game and Fabian hit a grounder to third that was misplayed and resulted in two more runs.
"You're usually not sitting here with the result you want if the other team scores first and you get outhit in the ballgame," Thompson said. "I give the guys some credit for just hanging in there and battling."
Tanner Bauman struck out the side in the eighth inning and Dylan Watts made his Auburn debut in the ninth.
Auburn hits the road for the first time this season for the Jax College Baseball Classic in Jacksonville, Florida, Friday through Sunday.
Pitching proves to be key as No. 14 Auburn defeats UAB
