Butch Thompson breaks down how 'goofy' baseball gave Auburn an edge

After beating Stanford and avoiding elimination, Auburn coach Butch Thompson explained how a “goofy” fifth inning helped his team. The Tigers were down 2-0 early and still scoreless until the sixth inning when a huge double from Cole Foster cleared the bases and gave his team the lead.

It was the fifth inning though, according to Thompson, that set the stage for that offensive explosion.

Butch Thompson on “goofy” offense

“My favorite offensive inning was the fifth inning. I think Brody [Brooks Carlson hit the leadoff double] got a ground ball to the 6 hole. We finally got to a hit-and-run approach. Scrapping our at-bats. We had five 3-2 counts and we lost them. I know we had an eight-pitch at-bat by Rambusch to start the game, and the full counts we couldn’t win,” explained Thompson after the game.

“I was tired of watching us sitting there having at-bats; so we did some goofy stuff. Bunted a ball too hard for the first out. We did a first-and-third, and we delayed too much from leaving at third. And it made me happy. It was goofy baseball, but we scored four runs the next inning and it seems like we got each other’s attention.

“I was watching Oklahoma last night and they made the first and third out at third base, and everyone is throwing trash at them. I’m like, they’re right where they need to be. They’re playing, attacking and they’re going for it. And I thought that helped us work in creating the sixth inning.
And Foster had a big hit for us and has been struggling just health wise to stay on the field and was a big, big hit for us. But thankful to get a win and look forward to competing again tomorrow.”

The inning saw Auburn put two runners on base early with the leadoff double and a walk, before trying to get creative and bunting to advance their runners. Unfortunately, the bunt failed and the lead runner was thrown out at third — a mistake compounded by a base running error with runners on first and third that saw the lead runner again thrown out.

But the mistakes came as a result of aggressive play, something that Thompson pointed to as the reason for their comeback. He explained in his post-game appearance that the creative decisions they made put them in an attacking mindset.

“We’re just at a stage — I think we traveled a bunch, 5,000 miles. Quick turnaround for us. And I just wanted to get our feet back underneath us. But more importantly, if you leave here — my job is to keep a group of players and coaches to leave with no regrets. Just let it hang out.

“What are we going to do, screw something up or make a mistake? I want them to attack as much as they can. [Former Iowa wrestling legend] Dan Gable said “attack” three times. He wouldn’t say it once. Dan Gable would go attack, attack, attack. And I want them to go out that way.

“And it’s not always going to be perfect. But I just don’t want to sit there for nine innings and just have at-bats. So that’s why I’m trying to make a deal out of that. I kind of asked for it. So anything that looks dumb it’s always my fault anyway, so I might as well call it out and get them stirred up a little bit. And I think the fifth inning led to a chance in the sixth.”