Auburn’s bats enough to take game one in Corvallis

On Saturday, the No. 14 national-seeded Auburn Tigers began their super regional with the No. 3 national-seeded Oregon State Beavers. Before the start of game one of the series, the Beavers had to scratch their starting pitcher Cooper Hjerpe due to an undisclosed illness. Therefore, their day two starter, Jake Pfennigs, was asked to start in game one of the series.

It didn’t take the Auburn bats very long to generate some production. After second baseman Cole Foster earned a walk, first baseman Sonny DiChiara made the Beavers pay with a two-run home run to right-center field. After the top half of the first inning, the Tigers led 2-0.

The Beavers would storm back in the bottom half of the inning. Right-fielder Justin Boyd led the inning off with an eleven-pitch at-bat, resulting in a hit by pitch. The next batter was Wade Meckler, who was walked by Tigers starting pitcher Trace Bright. With two aboard for the Beavers, first baseman Garret Forrester delivered with a three-run home run. After two doubles and two walks, the Beavers had pushed across yet another run. After one inning of play, Oregon State led 4-2.

The Tigers made sure to capitalize in the top half of the second inning after a single off the bat of shortstop Brody Moore and a hit-by-pitch for center-fielder Kason Howell. Catcher Nate LaRue came through with an RBI single to make it a one-run game. Then, left-fielder Mike Bello hit a ground ball later on in the inning to bring across Howell. After one and a half innings, the game was tied at 4-4.

It is safe to say that neither starting pitcher found a comfort zone on Saturday night. Bright pitched just two-thirds innings and allowed four earned runs while Pfennigs pitched two and two-thirds innings and allowed five earned runs.

In the third inning, Foster led the inning off with a single. After two walks were earned, the Tigers had the bases loaded with just one out. The next batter, Brody Moore, hit a sacrifice fly to give the Tigers a 5-4 lead.

Both teams went scoreless in the fourth inning, but the same couldn’t be said for the fifth inning. Right-fielder Bobby Peirce hit a solo shot to left field to increase the Tigers’ lead to 6-4.

Both teams were able to sustain as far as pitching was concerned. The two bullpens held each other in check until the eighth innings rolled around. Bello led off the frame with a single followed by a grounder’s choice from third-baseman Blake Rambusch. However, both were able to reach safely due to a fielding error on the Beavers. Then, Foster grounded into a double-play, but it brought Bello home. Tigers led 7-4 after eight innings of play.

In the ninth inning, the Tigers closer Blake Burkhalter was called on. After six and a third inning of scoreless relief from relievers Tommy Sheehan and Carson Skipper, head coach Butch Thompson looked to close it out with the native of Dothan, Alabama. After rendering a lead-off single, Burkhalter was able to get a fly ball out to left field to give the Tigers one out. The next batter was Forrester who would strike out looking.

Center-fielder Jacob Melton hit an RBI double to cut the Tigers’ lead to 7-5. With two outs in the ninth, the Tigers needed just one more out. Burkhalter would then deliver with a crucial strikeout against the five-hole hitter Gavin Logan. Tigers won 7-5.

The win was huge for a streaky Auburn team that appears to be peaking at the right time. If Auburn can win one of the two games remaining, they will punch their ticket to Omaha for the College World Series. However, they still have business to take care of, because the Beavers are more than capable of coming back in the series. Game two is scheduled to begin on Sunday at 9 p.m. CT and will be airing on ESPN2.