After rain forced the postponement of Friday’s series opener, The No. 22 Auburn Tigers finally began its three-game weekend set with UConn on Saturday by playing two games at Plainsman Park.
The Tigers and Huskies split Saturday’s action. Auburn dominated game one while UConn got revenge on the Tigers in game two. Head coach [autotag]Butch Thompson[/autotag] was pleased with his team’s performance in game one but referenced the first inning of game two as the low point of the day.
“I thought it was the best game we played all year in the first game. It was clean on the mound. Our at-bats were good throughout the ballgame. Defensively we were good. Just all the way around I thought it was our best game. Then I thought we followed that up 45 minutes later with our worst half inning that we’ve had all year. But we got a bunch of guys in two games, and I thought they kept playing. We chased a non-competitive top of the first the entire ballgame and still had a chance.”
Here’s a rundown of how Saturday’s action played out between Auburn and UConn.
Game One: Auburn 8 UConn 1
| Runs | Hits | Errors | LOB | |
| UConn | 1 | 6 | 0 | 7 |
| Auburn | 8 | 9 | 1 | 6 |
WP- Chase Allsup | LP- Garrett Coe | S- John Armstrong
UConn struck first during the top of the 1st inning when Jake Studley smashed a home run to right field. The Tigers responded by scoring eight unanswered runs to win the first game of the doubleheader.
[autotag]Cooper Weiss[/autotag] and [autotag]Bobby Peirce[/autotag] each hit a home run and sent three runs home in the game. Peirce put Auburn on the board in the bottom of the 1st inning on a groundout to 2nd base, then later hit a two-run blast in the 5th inning. For Weiss, he gave Auburn the lead in the bottom of the 3rd with a solo home run to push Auburn ahead, 2-1. His final two RBI came off of a sacrifice fly in the 5th, and a single in the 8th.
[autotag]Chase Allsup[/autotag] earned his first win of the season in game one. He stuck out six batters while allowing six hits and an earned run on 85 pitches.
“I loved how Chase finished the game. I thought he was getting better. I just liked how he finished strong,” Thompson said of Allsup’s outing. “I do want them coming out on the attack, and I thought that’s what Chase did. I thought he settled and we saw some growth with him.”
[autotag]John Armstrong[/autotag] struck out two batters while allowing a walk and no hits to earn the save.
Game Two: UConn 8 Auburn 4
| Runs | Hits | Errors | LOB | |
| UConn | 8 | 12 | 1 | 9 |
| Auburn | 4 | 7 | 1 | 14 |
WP- Gabe Van Emon | LP- Joseph Gonzalez | S- Brady Afthim
Saturday’s start is one that Auburn ace [autotag]Joseph Gonzalez [/autotag]would like to forget. Gonzalez got the nod for his third start of the season on Saturday, and was forced to grab pine after allowing six earned runs on four hits in just two-thirds of an inning.
Auburn cut UConn’s lead in half in the bottom of the 1st inning thanks to two home runs by [autotag]Ike Irish[/autotag] and [autotag]Cooper McMurray[/autotag] to trim the Huskies lead to 6-3. UConn kept its momentum alive by scoring a run over the next two innings to seal the game. Auburn added one more run in the 8th inning on a bases-loaded walk to McMurray.
[autotag]Christian Hall[/autotag] led the team in hits with two while McMurray scored three runs. In relief, Tanner Bauman and Christian Herberholz each struck out five batters.
Auburn will conclude its series with UConn on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT. Carson Myers will toe the rubber for Auburn while the Huskies will send Stephen Quigley to the mound.
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