Auburn baseball notebook – Mar. 23

Auburn baseball notebook – Mar. 23Auburn baseball notebook – Mar. 23
Zach Bland

Week at a Glance

Overall: 19-4
Last Week: 2-2
SEC:
4-2
Non-Conference: 14-2
Streak: L2

Last Week's Results:
Tuesday vs. No. 3 Georgia Tech: W, 9-2
Friday vs. No. 2 Texas: W, 4-3
Saturday vs. No. 2 Texas: L, 6-7
Sunday vs. No. 2 Texas: L, 0-5

This Week’s Schedule:
Tuesday vs. South Alabama: 6 p.m. (Montgomery, Ala.)
Friday at Alabama: 6 p.m.
Saturday at Alabama: 7 p.m.
Sunday at Alabama: 1 p.m.

Players of the Week                                                 

Chris Rembert – SO – IF – Pensacola, Fla.

Week 6: 4 GP/GS, .353/.421/.765, 6-for-17, 3 R, 1 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 1-1 SB
vs. Texas: 3 GP/GS, .333/.429/.667, 4-for-12, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 1-1 SB

  • Collected multiple hits in three of four games last week, tying for the team lead with six hits while leading the way with two homers and four RBI.
  • Matched a season-high with three RBI, including his first home run of the season, in the midweek win against No. 3 Georgia Tech.
  • Doubled and scored in the first inning of the series opener against No. 2 Texas.
  • Hit his second home run of the week to spark Auburn’s late-inning rally in the middle game against the Longhorns.

Lucas Steele – Sr. – C/OF – Hoover, Ala.

Week 6: 4 GP/2 GS, .429/.600/.429, 3-for-7, 2 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 HBP
vs. Texas: 3 GP/2 GS, .500/.625/.500, 3-for-6, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP

  • Led the team with a .429 average for the week and .500 clip in three games against Texas.
  • Brought in a run with a bases-loaded walk in the midweek win against No. 3 Georgia Tech.
  • Turned in his first two-hit game of the season in the opener against No. 2 Texas.
  • Drew a pinch-hit hit-by-pitch to start the eight inning and scored a run to cut the deficit to one in the middle game against the Longhorns.
  • Started at catcher and went 1-for-2 with a walk in the finale.

Pitchers of the Week

Andreas Alvarez – So. – RHP – Seminole, Fla.

Week 6/vs. Georgia Tech: 1 GS, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 5.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R/0 ER, 3 BB, 10 K, .118 B/AVG

  • Earned his third straight midweek win and struck out a career-high 10 batters against No. 3 Georgia Tech.
  • Allowed just one unearned run on two hits as the Tigers ultimately held the nation’s top-ranked offense to its lowest hit (three) and run (two) total of the season.
  • Became the third Auburn pitcher this season to record a double-digit strikeout game and has now struck out eight or more batters in three of five starts.
  • Six of the last seven outs he recorded were via the strikeout.

Jake Marciano – So. – LHP – Bayville, N.J.

Week 6/vs. Texas: 1 GS, 0-0, 1.29 ERA, 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R/ER, 2 BB, 9 K, .087 B/AVG

  • Turned in his second straight 7.0-inning start in the opener against No. 2 Texas, allowed one run on two hits with two walks and nine strikeouts.
  • It marked his fifth start this season having allowed one run or less and his fourth quality start of the year, including his third straight.
  • It also capped off a stretch of 11 straight starts for Auburn in which the starting pitcher didn’t allow more than one earned run.
  • Allowed a solo home run with one out in the fourth inning but responded to retire 11 of the last 13 batters he faced in the outing.
  • Enters the week ranked top 10 in the country in ERA (1.00), WHIP (0.56), hits allowed per 9.0 innings (4.00), strikeouts (51) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (12.75).

Team Notes

All four games last week were played against teams ranked in the top three … both matchups with No. 3 Georgia Tech and No. 2 Texas were the highest-ranked matchups in Plainsman Park history … the walk-off win in the series opener against Texas marked the team’s third walk-off win and fifth one-run win of the season … from Mar. 1 through the series opener against Texas, the Auburn pitching staff didn’t allow more than three runs, turning in a 1.12 ERA during the 11-game stretch … starting pitchers didn’t allow more than one earned run in a start during the same span, posting a 0.69 ERA … the team won 12 straight games from Feb. 28-Mar. 20, the longest streak since winning 15 in a row in 2019 ... Auburn enters the week ranked in the top 10 in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.42; 1st), ERA (2.50; 2nd), WHIP (1.03; 2nd), walks allowed per 9.0 innings (2.67; 2nd), strikeouts per 9.0 innings (11.8; 8th), hits allowed per 9.0 innings (6.64; 8th) and shutouts (3; 9th) …  the Tigers’ bullpen allowed just two runs in 11.2 innings pitched in the last two games of the series against Texas … seven of the 11 relievers who pitched in the two games were making their SEC debuts … 28,793 people took in the four games at Plainsman Park last week … the crowd of 6,498 Tuesday vs. Georgia Tech was a midweek record by nearly 1,000 fans … Auburn set its regular season attendance record with a crowd of 7,247 Friday night and set the ballpark’s all-time record with a crowd of 8.037 Saturday … the series attendance of 22,295 was a series record by more than 3,000 people, surpassing last year’s total of 19,199 vs. LSU.