Auburn offense attacks early, bullpen shines late in series-opening win

Courtesy of Auburn Athletics

AUBURN, Ala. – After the offenses traded blows in the first two innings, Auburn’s bullpen duo of Carson Myers and John Armstrong turned in 7.2 scoreless innings to take down No. 4 Tennessee 9-5 in front of a record crowd of 5,119 Friday night at Plainsman Park.

Tennessee (24-6, 5-5 SEC) scored five runs on six hits after sending just 10 batters to the plate to start the game, but Myers (2-2) and Armstrong held the league’s best-hitting offense to just four more hits the rest of the way.

“Just an amazing job by those two guys,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “I was ready to throw 10 of the 12 arms we had on the roster, but to only throw three guys in a game one was pretty exciting. Armstrong was elite. He was special tonight.”

Myers earned his second win of the season, including his first win in the Southeastern Conference, while Armstrong logged a career-high 4.0 innings and six strikeouts en route to earning his second save.

“It felt good, especially against a really good team,” Armstrong said. “It felt like we needed to help our hitters out, so it was good to throw up a lot of zeroes and just get after it.”

Auburn (18-11, 2-8 SEC) answered Tennessee in each of the first two innings, scoring eight runs on nine hits in its first two trips to the plate. Ike Irish hit a solo homer with two outs in the first, and the Tigers kept passing it down until Cade Belyeu gave Auburn the lead with a three-run homer to right center.

“I thought it was huge just to get a little momentum back because they struck first,” Irish said. “It’s hard to get momentum and even harder to keep it. Belyeu had a big swing and McMurray, Hall, Peirce – everyone was connected and on time.”

Irish’s first-inning homer extended his hitting streak to 16 games and was his fifth homer in the last seven contests. Following his long ball, Christian Hall drove in a run after back-to-back singles from Cooper McMurray and Bobby Peirce. Belyeu then sent the second pitch he saw from Tennessee starter AJ Causey 461 feet over the Back Forty Deck to give Auburn a 5-3 lead.

The Volunteers answered with a two-run homer in the top of the second, but Auburn came right back with three more in the bottom of the inning. Irish drove in his second run of the game with a single up the middle, and Peirce added to it with a one-out fielder’s choice. Hall then battled with two outs, slapping a full-count pitch through the left side to make it 8-5 through two.

Myers entered in relief after Tennessee’s two-run homer in the second and turned in 3.2 scoreless innings. The junior lefty retired the last five batter batters he faced in the fourth and fifth innings after Auburn got out of the third thanks to a cut and relay from Cooper Weiss to erase a potential double steal at the plate.

Armstrong entered in relief of Myers to start the sixth and worked a clean inning with a pair of strikeouts, needing just eight pitches to set the Volunteers down in order.

Auburn added to its three-run lead with a sacrifice fly from McMurray in the sixth, scoring Mason Maners from third after he led off the inning with his second double of the game.

Myers and Armstrong retired 10 straight Tennessee hitters from the fourth until the seventh inning, and Armstrong set down 12 of the 14 batters he faced to get Auburn to the finish line.

“I’m thankful that this team gets a chance to win a series after getting the first one tonight,” Thompson added. “That was important and something we’ve been fighting for. We’ve been waiting close to a month for a chance to come to the ballpark on day two of a SEC series with a chance to win a series.”

Offensively, Auburn homered multiple times for the seventh straight game and recorded double-digit hits for the seventh time in the last eight contests, including the fourth straight.

The Tigers and Volunteers continue the series Saturday at 3:30 p.m. CT at Plainsman Park.