MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Ike Irish turned in his second multi-homer game in the last three contests to lead No. 11 Auburn to a 13-5 win against South Alabama Tuesday evening at Riverwalk Stadium.
The Tigers offense totaled 14 hits with four players collecting two or more. The top of the lineup in Eric Snow, Irish and Cooper McMurray along with eight-hole hitter Cade Belyeu accounted for 11 of the team’s 14 hits.
“Up and down the lineup we linked up a bit more,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “We took the free passes that they gave us and Ike had two more home runs much like Saturday. I’m thankful for this win. We just have to keep working to try to grow the ballclub.”
After returning to the lineup for the series at Kentucky, Irish hit his third and fourth home runs in the last three games and matched a career high with five RBI.
“Since last Saturday all I’ve been thinking about in the box is getting my foot down,” Irish said. “If my timing is right, I trust my hands and my eyes. I just took my hands to the ball. I think that’s what I’ve been doing the past few at-bats is I’ve been on time and taken my hands to the ball. When I do that I think I can be pretty special.”
Belyeu was on Irish’s heels by matching a career high with three hits, including his fourth home run of the season, while also driving in three runs.
“Our offense has been good for us all year,” Belyeu said. “Just going out there, we don’t ever get down regardless if we’re down on the scoreboard or we’re up by 20. We’re going to put together at-bats day-in-and-day-out.”
South Alabama (11-13) jumped out to a 2-0 lead on an error and two-run homer in the first, but Auburn (20-5) answered with a two-run homer of its own from Irish. The long ball came after Snow started the inning with a single on the first pitch. McMurray followed Irish with a solo homer to right to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead. It was McMurray’s team-best seventh home run of the season and 35th of his Auburn career, moving him into a tie for ninth in program history.
The Tigers continued a consistent approach at the plate with five runs on four hits to take an 8-2 lead through two. Deric Fabian drew a leadoff walk and Belyeu launched another two-run homer to right. Bristol Carter was hit by a pitch before Snow, Irish and McMurray laced three straight singles and Lucas Steele drove in a run on a fielder’s choice and another came in to score on a throwing error on the play.
Irish collected his third hit in as many at-bats and drove in his fourth run of the game with a two-out double down the left field line to extend the lead to 9-2 in the third.
Jett Johnston (4-0) held South Alabama scoreless with a pair of strikeouts in the second and third innings and a pair of pitchers in Ben Schorr and Abe Chancellor made their season debuts and held South Alabama scoreless in the fourth and fifth frames. Schorr worked a clean fourth inning with a strikeout and Chancellor worked around a pair of walks to keep the Jaguars off the scoreboard.
Having not recorded a hit since the two-run homer in the first, South Alabama loaded the bases off another Tiger making his debut in Saxon Roberts on three walks in the sixth and finally broke through with three runs on a two-out, two-run single followed by a throwing error to make it a 9-5 game.
Auburn answered the only two innings South Alabama scored by plating a pair of runs in the sixth to extend the lead back to six. Steele, Chris Rembert and Chase Fralick started the inning with three straight singles and two of the three came in to score on a hit-by-pitch by Belyeu and sacrifice fly from Carter.
Irish led off the seventh with his second home run of the game to nearly the same spot in center field and the Tigers capped off the scoring with a sacrifice fly from Snow in the eighth.
John Armstrong turned in 2.0 scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth and Hayden Murphy recorded the final three outs.
Off to its best start in league play since 2017, Auburn continues Southeastern Conference play with a three-game series at No. 2 Georgia (25-2, 5-1 SEC) Friday through Sunday in Athens.