AUBURN, Ala. – No. 6 Auburn hit four two-run homers and held a perfect game until there was one out in the seventh inning in a 13-0 run-rule victory against Alabama State Tuesday night at Plainsman Park.
The four home runs were tied for the most in a game this season, and the seven extra-base hits were the second most. All nine players in the starting lineup recorded a hit for the second straight game.
“They played great again tonight,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “Every hitter got a hit, some guys really tore it up. As an offense, it worked. I just don’t think we can operate any better than we did tonight. It was almost perfect. It was a really good effort by looking at the way they approached the game. Played really good defense again. All around, a very positive night.”
Eric Guevara extended his hitting streak to 12 games, going 3-for-4 with two homers, a double and career-high-matching five RBI. The junior third baseman now has multiple hits in four straight games and seven of the last eight.
“Continuing my pregame work, keeping it consistent, trusting my abilities and keeping that same swing has helped me the most,” Guevara said. “Now that the balls are falling, you can really see what our approach looks like. It’s something we’ve been working on since the fall.”
With Griffin Graves (1-0) making his first career start, the pitching quartet of Graves, Jett Johnston, Abe Chancellor and Ethan Harden held a perfect game until a one-out single in the seventh inning. The staff ultimately turned in the second straight shutout and has pitched 21.0 straight scoreless innings.
“I thought I’d be really nervous, first time getting out there as a starter in an Auburn uniform,” Graves said. “It was awesome. I felt good and I’m excited that I got out there. I was glad that we all linked up together tonight. We filled the strike zone really well.”
Auburn (25-11) manufactured a run in the first as Bristol Carter hit a leadoff single, stole two bases and scored on a sacrifice fly from Guevara.
Making the first start of his career in his second appearance of the season, Graves retired the first nine batters he faced on four groundouts, three flyouts and two strikeouts. Twenty-four of the 35 pitches he offered were for strikes.
Guevara extended his hit streak to 12 games with a one-out double in the third, and Chris Rembert drove him in with a RBI double of his own.
The Tigers scored for the third time in the first four innings as Carter dropped down a well-executed sacrifice bunt with runners on the corners to score Brandon McCraine from third and make it a 3-0 game. Auburn then went to work with two outs, scoring four runs on a pair of two-run homers from Guevara and Bub Terrell with a triple from Rembert in between, his sixth straight at-bat with a hit.
Five of Auburn’s seven hits in the third and fourth innings were for extra bases, including two doubles, a triple and two home runs.
Two more two-out runs came in to score on back-to-back bases loaded walks from Rembert and Terrell in the fifth to extend the advantage to 9-0.
McCraine collected his career high fourth hit of the game with one out in the sixth before Lucas Steele hit a two-run homer to right. Chase Fralick kept the inning alive with a two-out single, and Guevara laced his second homer of the game 111 miles per hour to left.
Auburn starts the second half of Southeastern Conference play with a trip to Gainesville, Florida, to take on the No. 6 Gators (27-11, 9-6 SEC) Thursday through Saturday.