COLUMBIA, Mo. – Jake Marciano and Garrett Brewer combined to give No. 5 Auburn its third shutout in the last five games, opening Southeastern Conference play with a 2-0 win at Missouri Friday night at Taylor Stadium.
The win snapped Missouri’s 13-game winning streak heading into conference play, good for the third longest streak in the country entering the weekend. It also marked the sixth straight game Auburn hasn’t allowed more than two runs.
“We’re learning something new every time we take the field, and I think that’s good for a young team,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “There’s so many young players on the field. I feel like there’s things I haven’t seen, but we just stayed in the game and stayed focused."
A lighting delay in the top of the eighth inning that lasted more than an hour and a half ended Marciano’s outing after 7.0 shutout innings, but Brewer came in following the delay and pitched the final two frames in scoreless fashion to earn his team-best third save.
“I was just trying to attack the zone with all my pitches,” Marciano said. “That’s all we wanted. Starting off game one with a shutout is really important.”
“(It’s big) To get a shutout on the road in the first SEC game,” Thompson added. “Bub (Terrell) wound up getting the big hit tonight, and we made it stand up. I think that’s huge."
With the game tied 0-0 in the top of the eighth, Bub Terrell followed a leadoff walk from Chase Fralick with a two-run home run off the roof of Devine Pavilion beyond the right field fence to give Auburn the lead.
“The last time I had that opportunity, I didn’t come through for my team,” Terrell said. “I just wanted to put the ball in play and that’s how the swing turned out.”
Missouri (15-3, 0-1 SEC) threatened to start the scoring by loading the bases on a leadoff double and pair of two-out hit batters in the bottom of the third. However, Marciano buckled down and struck out left fielder Cameron Benson on three pitches to end the inning unscathed.
Auburn (15-2, 1-0 SEC) responded with a leadoff double from Fralick in the top of the fourth, but a trio of groundouts with a two-out walk in between kept the game scoreless.
After working around the bases-loaded jam in the third, Marciano allowed just a one-out double in the fourth inning before retiring 11 straight batters from that point through the seventh. He struck out five batters during the span.
With Marciano turning in another quality start on the mound, the Tigers broke the scoreless tie with the two-run home run from Terrell in the top of the eighth. The home run was Terrell’s fourth of the season and second straight game with a long ball.
The game went into a one-hour-and-35-minute technical delay due to some lighting outages behind home plate shortly after Terrell’s home run, forcing Marciano’s outing to be cut short after only 82 pitches in 7.0 scoreless innings.
Coming in and facing the top of the Missouri lineup, Brewer struck out the side in 11 pitches in the eighth and worked around a pair of baserunners in the ninth to earn his team-best third save of the season.
Due to the weather forecast for Columbia Sunday, the two teams will conclude the series with a Saturday doubleheader. Game one is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT with game two set for 6 p.m.