AUBURN, Ala. – Freshman Andreas Alvarez extended his scoreless innings streak to 16, but No. 13 Coastal Carolina scored four runs in its last two at-bats to sweep the NCAA Auburn Super Regional, defeating No. 4 Auburn 4-1 Saturday at Plainsman Park.
“Tip of the hat to Coastal. They played in all facets very well. Great run, great season for our guys,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “Some of the young players helped us, our leadership was great. They made a difference for me, our fans. I’m forever grateful. The players gave us everything for the entire year. The guys battled hard.”
The visiting team in game two, Auburn scored first for the second straight game, when Eric Snow drew a walk on a nine-pitch at-bat, then scored from first with two outs on Chase Fralick’s single to right.
Alvarez held Coastal Carolina hitless until Ty Barrango led off the bottom of the third with a single to left. After a two-out walk and a wild pitch put two in scoring position, right fielder Ike Irish caught a line drive to preserve the Tigers’ lead.
Alvarez induced a double play to erase a leadoff single in the bottom of the fourth, then stranded two runners to complete his fourth scoreless inning.
Auburn threatened in the top of the fifth when Chris Rembert drew out a one-out walk and Bub Terrell followed with a single, but an infield fly and a strikeout ended the rally.
Cade Fisher relieved Alvarez after a leadoff single in the bottom of fifth. After Coastal Carolina loaded the bases with no outs, Fisher sandwiched a pair of strikeouts around an infield fly to leave the bases loaded, thrilling the Auburn fans among the 7,841 in attendance.
Alvarez scatted four hits in four shutout innings, ending his freshman season with 16 straight clean frames across four outings, including three starts and one relief appearance.
“It was a good feeling to compete like that against certain teams,” Alvarez said. “The last couple teams I’ve faced I’ve really felt confident on the mound. Being able to have the team behind me was huge, and all the fans throughout the postseason was really huge for my confidence as well.”
Auburn had at least one baserunner in all nine innings. In the top of the sixth, Lucas Steele and Bristol Carter singled but Coastal Carolina starter Jacob Morrison ended his outing by getting a fly out and a strikeout.
Coastal Carolina threatened once again in the bottom of the sixth, taking advantage of a hit batter and a walk before Fisher recorded a strikeout and a popup to head to the seventh inning clinging to a 1-0 lead.
Coastal Carolina broke through for three runs in the bottom of the seventh, tying the game on a leadoff double and an RBI single.
The Chanticleers scored the go-ahead run with two outs in the seventh, capitalizing on a fielding error at first after a slow roller to the mound, ending the outing for Fisher (1-3), who struck out four and allowed only one earned run in 2.2 innings.
Coastal added a third run in the inning off relievers Cam Tilly and Parker Carlson on a walk and a hit batter with the bases loaded. The Chanticleers scored an insurance run in the eighth with a leadoff double and an RBI single to go ahead 4-1.
Coastal Carolina (53-11) will take a 23-game winning streak to Omaha for the College World Series.
Auburn (41-20) concludes a historic season in which the Tigers went 17-13 in SEC play, earned the No. 4 national seed in the NCAA Tournament, swept the Auburn Regional and hosted a super regional for the first time in program history.
“This will fuel us hopefully,” Thompson said. “These things are so hard to get to. I’m thankful for these guys. They did everything to move on. They did enough to be able to get there. We have enough backing and we have enough resources to where we should be knocking on this door in our fair share of times, the season should be ending in Omaha.”
Saturday’s game marked the end of their Auburn careers for the Tigers’ seniors and some draft-eligible players.
“They were the glue,” Thompson said. “They built a bridge to hold this thing together. Job well done for every one of those guys. That’s what allowed us to get here to have a chance and an opportunity to dream about advancing one more step.”
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer