BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – On the strength of a five-run fifth inning, No. 5 Auburn cruised to a 10-2 win against UAB in front of a midweek crowd of 5,171 Tuesday night at Regions Field.
Four players collected multiple hits in the contest and three drove in multiple runs. The game marked the third straight midweek win in which the Tigers have scored double digit runs.
”I’m thankful for the win, but not our best effort here recently,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “I’m not disappointed or upset, but we committed to five weeks here to finish this thing. There were definitely some things that we’ll take and put into practice tomorrow and keep pushing.”
Brandon McCraine and Bub Terrell tied for the team lead with three hits apiece and drove in a combined five runs. Eric Guevara and Chris Rembert added a pair of hits, including Guevara’s 11th home run of the season.
“It’s pretty tough, but you just have to stay true to yourself and do what you do best,” McCraine said of facing a different pitcher in each at-bat. “I feel more comfortable, more relaxed, and feel like I’m seeing the ball well right now.”
“All of my hits were away tonight. I’ve been thinking about letting the ball travel longer and putting the ball in play,” Terrell added. “That’s the biggest thing for me going forward is just putting the ball in play.”
Auburn (33-14) got on the scoreboard in the second inning as Rembert and Ethin Bingaman collected infield singles to put runners on the corners with one out, and McCraine did his job with a ground ball to third to score Rembert.
Making his third midweek start, Griffin Graves (2-0) allowed leadoff baserunners in each of the first two innings but induced double plays in both frames to keep the Blazers scoreless.
Leading 1-0, the Tigers took advantage of a UAB fielding miscue and doubled its lead on a RBI single from Terrell in the fourth. The Tigers nearly tacked on another on a well-executed first and third play, but the batter was ruled out on interference, sending the runners back to their respective bases.
After a couple of manufactured runs in the first few frames, the offense came to life with five runs on four hits, four walks and a wild pitch in the fifth to take a 7-0 lead. Guevara singled to right to start the scoring in the frame, and Bingaman later drew a bases-loaded walk to extend the lead to four. A wild pitched scored another before Terrell drove in his second and third runs of the game with a single to left.
Graves turned in a career-high 4.0 scoreless innings thanks in part to a double of induced double plays and a runner caught stealing, facing just two batters over the minimum in his outing.
UAB (28-20) put its leadoff man aboard for the fourth time as Abe Chancellor entered in relief of Graves to start the fifth and issued a walk. However, the season-high third double play of the game erased the leadoff baserunner, and Chancellor kept the Blazers off the board with a strikeout to end the inning.
Mason McCraine started the eighth inning with an eight-pitch walk before Guevara extended Auburn’s lead to nine with his home run that left the bat at 109 miles per hour and traveled 408 feet. After singles by Rembert and Terrell later in the inning, McCraine drove in the team’s 10th run of the game with a two-out single through the right side.
Marcel Kulik followed Chancellor with 1.2 scoreless innings before the Blazers got on the scoreboard with two runs on three hits in the eighth.
Garrett Brewer made his 15th appearance of the season in the ninth and ended the game with a pair of strikeouts.
Auburn wraps up its week on the road with a three-game series at No. 10 Mississippi State (37-12, 14-10 SEC) Thursday through Saturday.