AUBURN | A day after their worst outing of the season, Auburn’s pitching staff had one of their best.
Christian Chatterton and Carson Myers combined to hold Old Dominion to six hits as the 20th-ranked Tigers won the rubber game of the series 7-3 Sunday afternoon at Plainsman Park.
"There wasn’t much to say before the game today. We needed to play baseball and needed to rebound," said AU coach Butch Thompson. "To have a freshman absolutely take the ball and do it and then Carson Myers absolutely leaned on the strike zone."
Auburn improves to 13-3. The Tigers won game one of the series 10-4 before blowing a seven-run lead in a 11-9 loss Saturday.
Chatterton (2-0) earned the win allowing an unearned run on three hits and one walk in 5.2 innings. The freshman right-hander struck out six on 83 pitches.
"I think I’m at a great spot with my off-speed pitches now," said Chatterton. "Just coming out landing breaking ball and attacking with the off-speed has been working really well."
Myers earned his second save of the season holding the Monarchs to two runs on three hits over the final 3.1 innings. He struck out four and issued one walk.
"We talk about all the time pounding the strike zone and making them beat us. Yesterday wasn’t the outcome we wanted but the response is really all that matters. I think our pitchers did a great job today," said shortstop Deric Fabian.
The Tigers scored single runs in the second, third and fourth innings, and added two in the fifth and two more in the eighth.
Fabian was 2 of 5 with a home run and two RBI. He had a another home run taken away from him in the third, after a ball that bounced off the railing atop the left field wall was ruled a ground-rule double.
In his next at-bat, Fabian sent the first pitch he saw over the left field wall for a no-doubt home run, his fourth of the season.
"Fabian had two home runs today. I don’t care what they say. The guys just played good, solid baseball all day," said Thompson.
Eric Snow was 3 of 5 with two runs scored and an RBI, Cooper McMurray was 2 of 5 with a two-run home run in the eighth, his fifth of the season, Chase Fralick 2 of 5 with one RBI and Chris Rembert 1 of 3 with one RBI.
Auburn plays UT Martin Tuesday night at Toyota Field in Madison, Ala. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT. The Tigers host Vanderbilt next weekend.
