AUBURN, Ala. – Behind arguably its best-pitched game of the season, No. 12 Auburn defeated Troy 8-2 in front of 6,138 fans Tuesday night at Toyota Field.
Led by starter Conner McBride, the pitching staff allowed two runs on four hits and allowed just one baserunner from the second through the seventh innings.
"For the level of team that we're playing, for the pitches that I watched, the little things and the consistent side of the pitching staff, that was my favorite game so far this season," head coach Butch Thompson said. "I thought it was consistent. I thought all of our guys were competitive and in the strike zone."
McBride (3-0, 2.41) earned his third straight midweek win and allowed just one run on one hit with two walks and two strikeouts. The junior righty has allowed two or fewer runs in 5.0 innings in three straight starts.
"I'm thankful to the coaches and everybody for just giving me this opportunity," McBride said. "I'm just trying to do my job the best I can and just execute pitches and help the team win. My mentality is just to attack the strike zone and execute the pitch, one pitch at a time."
Following McBride, John Armstrong worked a clean sixth inning with a pair of strikeouts. Will Cannon pitched the seventh and eighth frames, striking out three, and Tanner Bauman finished the game in the ninth.
Offensively, Auburn kept its streak of consecutive games with a home run alive with a solo homer from Caden Green in the seventh and two-run shot from Cooper McMurray in the eighth. Green's long ball was his first of the season.
"I haven't had the best at-bats lately. I haven't really liked them, but all of my teammates have been backing me up the entire time, just instilling that confidence in me," Green said. "That's all it takes is a little bit of confidence. You run into one and your teammates are all excited, it's just a great feeling."
Troy (12-6) jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a solo homer in the first, but Auburn (13-3) responded with a pair of runs on a sacrifice fly from Ike Irish, his team-best 24th run driven in of the season, and a RBI groundout from McMurray, who ultimately drove in a game-high three runs.
After allowing the solo homer in the first, McBride settled down and retired seven straight with clean second and third frames. The Trojans threatened after a leadoff walk in the fourth, but a pair of groundouts and a strikeout got McBride out of the inning unscathed.
Auburn added a run on a RBI double from Irish in the fourth and McBride worked a clean fifth inning to retire 10 of the last 11 batters he faced in his outing.
The Tigers tacked on two more on a RBI single to center from Chris Stanfield, who finished with a game-high three hits, and sacrifice fly from Green to make it a 5-1 game in the fifth. Green came back around in the seventh and deposited a 2-2 pitch into the Auburn bullpen in left center field.
After putting just one baserunner aboard since the first inning, Troy added a run on its second solo homer in the eighth. However, Auburn got the run back and then some on McMurray's sixth home run of the season.
Troy loaded the bases on a pair of hits and a walk in the ninth, but Bauman buckled down and ended the game with a strikeout.
Auburn starts Southeastern Conference play with a trip to No. 8 Vanderbilt (14-3) from Friday through Sunday.
