AUBURN | Richard Fitts is still trying to find his groove.
Auburn’s junior right-hander had a second consecutive rough outing as No. 18 Boston College rolled to an 8-2 win over the 22nd-ranked Tigers in the opener of a three-game series at Plainsman Park.
Auburn falls to 6-3 on the season.
“It’s kind of obvious the ball is not coming out of Richard Fitts’ hand the way we’ve all seen it and the way he competed against us and coming out in that first start against Presbyterian when it’s really humming in the first inning,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “These last two starts, it just looks different and a little more labored."
Fitts (0-2) took the loss allowing five runs on seven hits in 5.0 innings with one walk and two strikeouts. BC jumped on Fitts early with a two-run home run by Luke Gold in the second and solo home runs by Sal Frelick in the third and fifth.
Last Saturday, Fitts gave up seven runs, six earned, on nine hits in 4.1 innings of a 12-6 loss to Baylor.
“They looked up, out over the plate, cripple pitches,” said Thompson of Fitts’ fastball. “I’m getting a fastball and changeup that’s running about three mile per hour difference. That’s almost one pitch, right, when you start talking about speed.
“It just looks to me that his slider is coming out of a different window than the fastball/changeup, and when it comes out of a different window we’re just not getting it chased.”
Brooks Fuller allowed three runs, two earned, in 1.2 innings including Gold’s second home run of the game in the sixth, a solo shot over the left field wall. Seb Thomas came in to throw 2.1 shutout innings with one hit.
Auburn left 11 runners on base and failed to score after getting the lead runner on in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings. AU got two runs in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Bryson Ware and an RBI single by Kason Howell.
“We had a leadoff guy in four consecutive innings and did nothing with it,” Thompson said. “With runners in scoring position tonight, we went pop up, pop up, backwards K, an indecisive check back swing that was a 4-3, a backwards K, a K. The first time we really had a productive at-bat with runners in scoring position was the eighth inning with Bryson Ware.”
Tyler Miller was 2 of 4 with a run scored, ending his consecutive hit streak at eight. Rankin Woley finished 2 of 5 with a run scored.
BC ace Mason Pelio (2-1) threw 5.2 shutout innings allowing four hits and three walks with two strikeouts. Joey Walsh held AU to two runs on three hits over the final 3.1 innings.
AU senior left fielder Judd Ward missed a second consecutive game since injuring his AC joint last weekend. Thompson said it’s unlikely he’ll be available Saturday.
“He’s not swinging the bat above 50 percent,” Thompson said.
The series continues Saturday at 2 p.m. CT and concludes Sunday at 1 p.m. Sunday’s game will be available on SECN+ and ESPN+.
“We still have two-thirds of this series left,” Thompson said. “I’m real anxious to see them come out and fight against a good ball club the next two days.”
