No. 15 Auburn completes sweep of Eastern Kentucky

Courtesy of Auburn Athletics

AUBURN — On the strength of a combined 14 strikeouts from Carson Myers and Christian Herberholz, No. 15 Auburn completed it sweep of Eastern Kentucky with a 9-1 win Sunday afternoon at Plainsman Park.

Making his Auburn debut, Myers (1-0, 0.00), who is the son of former Auburn assistant coach Matt Myers, earned his first win and struck out a career-high eight batters in 6.0 scoreless innings.

“He’s earned this right, and he absolutely continued to pitch the way he’s been pitching recently,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “To track with a family for that long and to be that good of friends and then to see a day like today, that’s a surreal moment and a neat one for that family.”

Myers faced just one over the minimum in his first three innings and didn’t allow a hit until two outs in the fourth. He ended his outing by striking out the side in the sixth.

“It was awesome,” Myers said of making his first start in an Auburn uniform. “To be able to play and put on this uniform was just awesome. To learn from my guys and the coaching staff, it’s what I could’ve dreamed of.”

Following Myers quality start, Christian Herberholz entered in relief of the lefty and fanned the final six batters he faced en route to earning the 3.0-inning save. The duo not only combined for the previously mentioned 14 strikeouts, but also walked only two batters.

“I hope we get to continue to see that depth advertised,” Thompson said. “At the end of the day, you’re about as good as you are in your depth of being able to compete four games a week.”

Offensively, Auburn (3-0) was led by its bottom three hitters in Cooper Weiss, Christian Hall and Deric Fabian, who combined to go 7-for-9 with four runs and six RBI. The trio reached base a combined 12 times, and Weiss stole four bases in the contest.

“That bottom of the lineup today accounted for some runs, and I think seven of the 10 hits came from that bottom three,” Thompson added. “That’s what I want us to become. When you can do it at all three levels, top to bottom of a lineup, it makes you stronger and you can be competitive more days.

“Three games, it’s hard to judge and know exactly who you are because there’s 50-plus remaining, but I’ve seen worse starts in terms of guys being invested and having some good at-bats.”

The Tigers scored first for the third straight game of the series as Ike Irish tripled down the right-field line to score Mason Maners with one out in the bottom of the first.

An inning later, Chris Stanfield doubled to start the second and Hall drove him in with a two-run homer to straightaway center field. The home run was Hall’s first in an Auburn uniform and 31st of his collegiate career.

Stanfield and Irish both accounted for the cycle in their fourth and fifth hits of the season, respectively.

The Tigers continued to tack on runs with RBI singles from Weiss and Fabian in the bottom of the third. Both runs came with two strikes and two outs and extended the lead to 5-0.

Auburn extended its lead to 8-0 with a three-run fifth inning, sending nine batters to the plate in the frame. Fabian’s third hit of the game was a two-RBI single to center field, and Irish capped off the scoring in the frame with a bases-loaded walk.

Following the long home half, Myers returned for his final inning of work in the top of the sixth and struck out the side on just 12 pitches.

“That sixth (inning) really had some meaning to it,” Thompson added. “He has made some starts. He has some experience. The sixth was very impressive to me because sometimes it’s hard to get back in the zone after those long sits. That was my favorite inning today.”

Eastern Kentucky (0-3) scratched its lone run across after a leadoff triple in the seventh, but Herberholz retired nine of the last 10 batters he faced and struck out six straight to end the game.

Auburn’s final run came on a sacrifice fly from Javon Hernandez in the eighth.

The Tigers take on UAB (2-1) Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Plainsman Park before heading to Jacksonville, Florida for the Jax College Baseball Classic next weekend.