Strong overall pitching, home runs lead Auburn baseball to series win over UConn
AUBURN — Auburn baseball couldn't have started its series against UConn much better.
Starting pitcher Chase Allsup turned in six innings in the 8-1 win Saturday, scattering six hits and allowing one run. John Armstrong came on in relief and tossed three scoreless frames. Left fielder Mason Maners notched three hits, including a couple of bunts in the second and fourth innings. Cooper Weiss and Bobby Peirce stayed hot, each hitting a home run.
But 45 minutes later, in the second game of a doubleheader, the Tigers embarked on what coach Butch Thompson called the "worst half inning" of the season. Joseph Gonzalez got tagged for six earned runs in the top of the first inning, and Auburn could never recover on the way to an 8-4 loss.
In the rubber match Sunday, it was the Tigers (9-2) coming out on top with a 8-2 win to secure the series.
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Auburn baseball's Chase Allsup hangs tough after first-inning blast
The third batter Allsup faced worked a full count and sent his sixth pitch of the at-bat over the right field wall to give the Huskies an early lead in Game 1. Allsup responded by keeping UConn off the board the rest of the way.
"It looked like we were trying to win a bear at the fair a little bit early," Thompson said Saturday of Allsup's pitching. "And then ... he went to some of his pitches. I just like how he finished strong. I do want him coming out on the attack, and I thought that's what Chase did.
"That one home run is not the issue. If you said, 'What did I not like about the first inning?' I didn't like the walk to the next batter after the home run, not so much the home run. I thought he settled, and I thought I saw a growth in him."
Removing Gonzalez's misstep, the Tigers combined to allow 21 hits and five earned run overs 26⅓ innings.
Searching for that 'timely hit'
Auburn left plenty of meat on the bone in Game 2.
The Tigers left 14 runners on base, went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and all but wasted three consecutive innings that saw them load the bases; Auburn scored just one run in those innings, and it came off of a walk by Cooper McMurray in the bottom of the eighth inning.
"We had some at-him balls, but ... that's part of it," Thompson said. "You just have to keep up with your at-bats. You have to keep playing. ... We chased a non-competitive top of the first for the entire ballgame, and still had a chance. Still got a tying run to the plate. We had a big inning there in the bottom of the first. I like seeing that, but that was such a big deficit. ...
"I think we did everything we could, once the top of the first expired, to try to help us get back in the ballgame. A timely hit or something was definitely needed today. ... When you play a good club like this, you've got to play good, consistent baseball."
Three-home run series for Ike Irish
Star sophomore Ike Irish broke Game 3 open with a home run in the bottom of the sixth inning, and he added some extra insurance with another two-run shot in the eighth. Those homers came after he hit one Saturday. Irish is up to 16 RBIs this season.
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn baseball vs. UConn: Ike Irish hits HR to break Game 3 open
