It was a cold day on the Plains, but the Auburn bats were hot.
[autotag]Bobby Peirce[/autotag] and [autotag]Chris Stanfield[/autotag] recorded two hits as Auburn (2-0) claimed the first series win of the season by defeating Eastern Kentucky (0-2), 6-1 Saturday at Plainsman Park.
Auburn’s offense began, and ended, with Peirce on Saturday. Peirce put Auburn on the board first with a two-out triple in the 3rd inning to score [autotag]Javon Hernandez[/autotag] and [autotag]Caden Green[/autotag] to push Auburn ahead, 2-0. He put a cap on scoring in the bottom of the 8th inning with a solo home run to extend Auburn’s lead to 6-1.
Ike Irish was Auburn’s offensive hero in Friday’s opener, and Peirce took control in game two. Head coach [autotag]Butch Thompson[/autotag] is pleased with the versatility of his offense through two games and hopes to see the trend continue.
“Two outs, two strikes, and (Peirce) hit that triple to get us going,” Thompson said Saturday. “We really needed that. I hope that this is an offense that we can keep talking about a different guy every night. I hope that’s how we’re built.”
Following Peirce’s triple in the 3rd inning, [autotag]Cooper McMurray[/autotag] crushed his first home run of the season over the right field wall to extend Auburn’s lead to 4-0. Auburn’s fifth run of the game came off the bat of Hernandez, who grounded out to the shortstop to allow [autotag]Sam Robertson[/autotag] to score from 3rd base.
Eastern Kentucky’s lone run was scored in the 5th inning when DJ Sullivan doubled home Santiago Peralta. Sullivan led the Colonels in hits with two.
Saturday also marked the return of [autotag]Joseph Gonzalez[/autotag] to the mound after missing 364 days due to a shoulder injury. He struck out two batters, walked three, and allowed an unearned run in five complete innings. [autotag]Zach Crotchfelt[/autotag], [autotag]John Armstrong[/autotag], and [autotag]Will Cannon[/autotag] combined to strikeout seven batters through the final four innings from the bullpen. Every out that Cannon recorded in the 9th inning was a strikeout.
The Tigers go for the sweep of Eastern Kentucky Sunday at 1 p.m. CT. Auburn’s [autotag]Carson Myers[/autotag] will battle EKU’s Rian Yates on the mound.
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