CHAPEL HILL | Auburn had to fight just to get into the postseason. Now, the Tigers are two wins away from their first trip to the College World Series in 22 years.
Auburn enters the Chapel Hill Super Regional 36-25 overall having survived the loss of one of its weekend starters for nearly the entire season and two more for multiple weeks, along with extended slumps for its top three returning hitters.
“We’re just a gritty group of guys,” said shortstop Will Holland, who is hitting .367 over the last 16 games to raise his average to .248. “I feel like we’ve shown that throughout the season. We’ve had some guys go down and some guys step up, some young guys step up. We’ve always fought to the end of every game and I think that shows how much grit we have and how much fight we have in us.”
The next big obstacle for Auburn to overcome is No. 14 national seed North Carolina, which is 45-17 overall and riding a seven-game winning streak. The Tar Heels have made it to 11 CWS including eight times since AU’s last appearance, finishing sixth last season.
“The arms are what I think of first, and the bullpen arms being special. A lot of velocity,” said Auburn coach Butch Thompson of UNC. “I think we’ll see a little deeper staff, a little more talented bullpen than we encountered in the Regional.”
Second round MLB draft pick Tyler Baum anchors a UNC staff that includes three other draft picks and six players with 40 or more strikeouts. Co-National Freshman of the Year Aaron Sabato leads the Tar Heels in just about every hitting category including batting average (.341), hits (74), doubles (23), home runs (16) and RBI (58). First baseman Michael Bush, who was the 31st overall pick in the draft, has 16 home runs and 57 RBI.
“I know that they’ve got a couple guys early in the lineup that like to hit the ball out of the park,” said Jack Owen, who will face Baum in game one of the best two-out-of-three series. “They’re going to be a lineup that’s going to compete. What we’ve got to do is make sure that we execute our pitches and do everything we can to keep the ball in the yard.”
A year ago, Auburn came up just short in its bid to beat No. 1 Florida in the Gainesville Super Regional, falling 3-2 in 11 innings of game three. AU started this year’s postseason sweeping through the Atlanta Regional including two wins over No. 3 national seed Georgia Tech.
“Probably our three best games that we’ve played this entire year,” Thompson said. “Baseball works that way. It works in rhythms. It works in ebbs and flows. I can see it in our batting practice. I can see low line drives. I can see great energy flow.”
Holland is not the only AU player turning it up in crunch time. Steven Williams was named the Atlanta Regional MVP after hitting .462 with a double, two home runs and 10 RBI last weekend. Ryan Bliss hit .462 with five RBI during the Regional, Judd Ward hit .417 and made several big defensive plays in left field, and Rankin Woley hit .385 with four RBI.
“We’re all just hot at the right time,” Holland said. “We have a lot of impact players on this team who can hit a homer whenever the situation calls for. We have some guys who have stepped up pitching wise. We’re going to need everyone as a group to step up and compete for this team.”
On the mound, freshman Richard Fitts and sophomore Bailey Horn were both named to the All-Tournament team. Fitts threw 6.0 scoreless innings out of the bullpen to beat Georgia Tech Saturday and Bailey Horn threw six shutout innings sandwiched around a two-hour rain delay to beat the Yellow Jackets in the Regional-clincher Sunday.
“Bailey and Richard were kind of the unsung heroes,” Owen said. “For them to step up the way they did was unbelievable.”
Weather permitting, Saturday’s game will begin at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN2. Sunday’s game is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on ESPN and if necessary, the two teams will play Monday at noon on ESPN2.
