AUBURN, Ala. – No. 6 Auburn trailed for only a half inning of Saturday’s doubleheader as the Tigers finished off a sweep of Winthrop with a 6-0 win in game one and 8-1 win in game two at Plainsman Park.
In the two games combined, Auburn pitchers allowed one run on 11 hits with one walk and 19 strikeouts. The hitters scored 14 runs on 21 hits, while the defense didn’t commit an error in 75 chances.
“Our team was present,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “I talked about confidence this weekend, because I knew (Winthrop) was going to be confident coming in. Today I talked about, ‘Can you be present? Be able to focus for a period of time? Be able to think about game one first, and then game two, and then a rain delay?’
“These are all good lessons for us if we continue to do our jobs and commit to whatever we put before them,” Thompson added. “I thought they did a nice job of respecting the game and being mentally tough today. They did great at that.”
Auburn (13-2) outscored Winthrop (10-5) 24-1 in the series, marking the team’s third weekend sweep through four weeks. The one run allowed was the fewest in a series since also allowing one run in three games against Longwood to open the 2018 season.
GAME ONE
Auburn scored in the first inning for the second consecutive game, plating three runs on four hits. Chase Fralick drove in his team-best 16th run of the season to start the scoring before Eric Guevara added a RBI single and Todd Clay delivered his first career hit, a RBI double, to make it 3-0.
Winthrop threatened on a two-out single with a runner in scoring position in the top of the second, but Bub Terrell made a great throw from left field to the plate to get the runner with the outfield assist.
From that point, Jackson Sanders (2-0) retired nine straight batters with seven strikeouts from the third through the fifth innings. He faced just one batter over the minimum and matched a career high with nine strikeouts to that point in the game.
“Just getting the first inning out of the way has been big for me,” Sanders said. “Getting up there and getting set. Just being settled is what we talk about. We try to be quick to keep the defense engaged.
His career-high 10th strikeout came in the next frame, and an inning-ending double play erased a leadoff walk. Sanders threw 61 of 82 pitches for strikes and faced just one batter over the minimum in his career-long outing of 7.0 innings.
“It’s huge,” Sanders added of the pitching staff only allowing one run in the series. “We've been talking about committing to the strike zone all year. This week’s really shown that. We just poured it in there and they got themselves out or we got punch outs.”
Leading 3-0, Auburn added to its advantage on back-to-back RBI singles from Chris Rembert and Fralick in the sixth.
Drew Whalen entered in relief of Sanders to start the eighth and allowed just one baserunner on a single in his 2.0 innings of work.
Rembert collected his third hit and second RBI of the game with an infield single in the eighth, capping off the scoring in the contest.
The game marked the first time Auburn turned in back-to-back shutouts since doing so in a doubleheader against Rhode Island on Mar. 5, 2022.
GAME TWO
Winthrop scored its first run of the series with a RBI single in the top of the third inning, but Auburn answered with two runs of its own in the home half. After a hit batter and pair of walks loaded the bases, Mason McCraine delivered a two-out, two-run single to center to reclaim the lead.
Alex Petrovic responded after allowing the run to retire the Eagles in order in the fourth, but a rain delay of more than two hours ended the right hander’s outing after only 40 pitches.
Coming out of the delay, Christian Chatterton (2-0) turned in 2.2 scoreless innings with three strikeouts to earn the win.
McCraine drove in his third run of the game on a groundout in the fifth and a two-out, two-run double that left the bat at 114 miles per hour made it a 5-1 game in the seventh. The freshman came in to score two pitches later on a RBI single from Lucas Steele to extend the lead to five.
“I wouldn’t say it was a big day for me. I’d say it was a big day for the team,” McCraine said. “In the meeting after the game (Coach Thompson) talked about how tough our team was, and I think that was brought to light today. After the rain delay, we all stayed focused, came together and won the game.”
Jett Johnston turned in 1.1 scoreless innings on Chatterton’s heels, and the offense added two runs in the eighth to cap off the scoring for the series. Taylor Belza belted his first career home run to start of the frame, and Cade Belyeu drew his second hit-by-pitch before scoring on a sacrifice fly from Guevara later in the inning.
Ryan Hetzler struck out a pair in a scoreless ninth to put the finishing touches on the performance.
Auburn wraps up its nine-game homestand by hosting UAB (10-6) Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT before starting Southeastern Conference play at Missouri (13-2).