AUBURN, Ala. – Andreas Alvarez turned in 5.0 scoreless innings as No. 6 Auburn defeated Samford, 6-2, for the team’s 10th win of the season Tuesday night at Plainsman Park.
After navigating the first two innings unscathed and allowing a leadoff single in the third, Alvarez retired eight of the next nine batters he faced to give Auburn it’s 10th start this season of 5.0 or more innings.
“It was kind of a struggle, and then we met as a staff, me (Everett Teaford) and (Scott Foxhall),” Alvarez said. “It was just what adjustments can we make to get back in the zone. I had my pitch count up early through three, and I was just like I have to get through five. Just being able to bear down and get back in the zone really helped me out a lot.”
Alvarez (1-1) struck out five of the eight batters retired during the aforementioned span and ended his outing with a season-high-tying eight strikeouts en route to the win.
“The fourth and fifth (innings) are my two favorite innings he’s thrown in a long time,” head coach Butch Thompson added. “The ball got down and it was fastball, slider. It wasn’t just one pitch. It was strike one, strike two, just finally found that rhythm.”
Samford (5-7) threatened out of the gate with runners on the corners and one out in the top of the first. However, Alvarez got out of the inning unscathed with back-to-back strikeouts.
Auburn (10-2) wasted no time getting on the board with a sacrifice fly from Eric Guevara in the bottom of the inning.
The Tigers cashed in on a leadoff walk from Mason McCraine in the second, adding a run on a two-out single from Bristol Carter later in the frame.
After his sacrifice fly in the first, Guevara came back around to leadoff the third inning with a solo home run to right field, his second home run in the last three games.
As soon as Alvarez left the game, Samford took advantage with a two-out solo homer in the sixth, cutting its deficit to 3-1.
Jett Johnston struck out three batters in the top of the seventh to give Auburn its 11th double-digit strikeout game of the season, and the Tigers tacked on two, two-out runs in the bottom of the inning. Chris Rembert hit a ground ball through the left side to score Carter after a leadoff hit-by-pitch, and McCraine followed with a single to right to score Bub Terrell from second.
Samford scratched a run across on a diving double play from right fielder Cade Belyeu in the eighth, but Auburn answered with a RBI groundout from Bub Terrell in the bottom of the inning to cap off the scoring in the contest.
Five of Auburn’s six runs came in innings in which it put the leadoff man aboard.
Auburn wraps up its non-conference series against Winthrop (10-2) Friday through Sunday at Plainsman Park.