AUBURN, Ala. – No. 11 Auburn turned in its fourth shutout win of the season with a 1-0 victory against No. 21 Georgia Tech in front of a record midweek crowd of 5,559 Tuesday night at Plainsman Park.
The game marked the program’s first 1-0 win since defeating Mercer 1-0 on May 30, 2015 in the Tallahassee Regional.
It also marked the first time Georgia Tech had been shutout this season with the two hits marking the team’s fewest in a game. It was the fifth time this season the Tigers held the opponent to two hits.
“They were sharp when they needed to be,” Thompson said of his pitching staff. “We’re at that stage here in this last month, if you want to be a good team you need to win in different ways, and that’s our first 1-0 shutout since 2015 for our program. I couldn’t be more proud.”
“We knew to have the best guys available going into tonight thinking this would be a top-25 competitive ballgame,” Thompson added. “Just to be 1-0 and for the good guys, those guys pitched great.”
Making his third straight midweek start, Christian Chatterton struck out four of the first five batters he faced and turned in two scoreless innings to get into the game.
Auburn (28-13) threatened by loading the bases on three walks in the second, and Georgia Tech (29-12) got back-to-back strikeouts to nearly escape the jam. However, the fourth walk of the inning to Cooper McMurray scored the game’s first and only run.
Chatterton worked around back-to-back walks with a double play and strikeout in the third, and the Tigers loaded the bases for the second straight inning with three hit batters, but a groundout to third ended the inning.
Chatterton retired Georgia Tech in order in his fourth and final inning of work, turning in 4.0 scoreless and hitless innings with three walks and six strikeouts.
“I think it's just what (Coach Thompson) talks about, pound the zone, just trust in our stuff, and when we throw it in the zone good things happen,” Chatterton said.
He gave way to John Armstrong (2-1) to start the fifth, and the senior right hander ultimately earned the win with 2.0 scoreless innings and three strikeouts.
Carson Myers entered for Armstrong in the seventh and retired all six batters he faced with four strikeouts in 2.0 scoreless of his own. Fifteen of the 17 pitches he offered were strikes.
“It's a big confidence boost, for sure,” Myers said. “I just think bouncing back from this weekend, the ability to do that just tells you how good this team is and this staff, and I think going into this weekend and knowing that we can do that to a great team has only built our confidence even more.”
Cam Tilly picked up where the others left off and earned his first career save while striking out two in the ninth. As a staff, Auburn struck out 15 in the game.
Offensively, Auburn put multiple baserunners aboard in each of the first six inning but was left looking for the big hit. Chris Rembert collected the only multi-hit effort, marking his 10th of the season.
The Tigers remain at Plainsman Park to take on Mississippi State (24-16, 6-12 SEC) Friday thought Sunday.