Visiting Vols trounce Auburn, sets up Sunday rubber match
Auburn baseball opened the weekend series with No. 4 Tennessee by stunning the Vols with great offense in a 9-5 victory.
On Saturday, Tennessee returned the favor.
The Volunteers jumped out to an early 5-0 advantage and never looked back. In all, Tennessee recorded 13 hits in Saturday’s 12-2 run-rule victory over Auburn at Plainsman Park to even up the series.
After a scoreless inning from both squads, Tennessee took control of the game by scoring five runs in the top of the 2nd to take the 5-0 lead. The Volunteers led off the inning with a solo blast by Dalton Bargo to take the early 1-0 lead. After the home run, Tennessee used two walks and an RBI double to set up Christian Moore for a grand slam opportunity. He took advantage, and smashed a home run to right center field.
Auburn nearly avoided the big inning, but a two-out walk set up the grand slam.
“If you want to play that game and flip that lineup and keep getting (Christian) Moore and (Blake) Burke to the plate, you can pay for that, and that definitely happened,” head coach Butch Thompson said postgame. “The way (Drew) Beam pitched today, that was more than he needed, so it was a huge moment in the ballgame.”
Tennessee’s starter, Drew Beam, tossed a complete game gem for the Volunteers by striking out eight batters and allowing just three hits to Tiger batters. His offense provided plenty of cushion as well. Following the five-run 2nd inning, Tennessee scored three more runs in the 3rd and one more in the 4th inning before scoring three total runs over the final two frames to secure the win.
Auburn’s lone runs came in the bottom of the 7th inning when two wild pitches allowed Cooper McMurray and Chris Stanfield to score. Cade Belyeu joined McMurray and Stanfield as the only Tigers to record a hit in the game.
Conner McBride got the start for Auburn, and his outing was shortlived as he was pulled following the 1st inning grand slam after allowing five runs on four hits. Chase Allsup’s outing was the most notable of the game. He worked 4 2/3 innings, where he struck out four batters and allowed four runs on seven hits. Tanner Bauman and Ben Schorr also recorded some time on the mound in the loss. As a unit, Auburn pitching gave up six home runs in the contest.
Sunday’s rubber game between the Tigers and Volunteers is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT on Sunday at Plainsman Park. The game will be broadcast live on SEC Network+.
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