Keegan allows one hit in 7-0 win
AUBURN | Keegan Thompson dissected Holy Cross Friday.
Auburn’s junior right-hander allowed just one hit, striking out six in 8.0 innings to lead the Tigers to a 7-0 win over the Crusaders at Plainsman Park.
“I enjoy watching him pitch. He threw so efficiently today,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “That’s back-to-back weeks he’s been part of a shutout.”
Thompson (2-0) retired 24 of the 27 batters he faced including 19 in a row from the first through the seventh innings. He gave up a double in the first, a walk in the seventh and hit a batter in the eighth.
Sixty-six of his 90 pitches went for strikes in a game that lasted just two hours and 15 minutes.
“I felt good,” said Keegan Thompson, who missed all of last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. “My breaking stuff was a little sharper today.
“I got swings and misses, put the ball in play early again and the defense made good plays.”
Corey Herndon didn’t allow a hit in the ninth to close out the game.
Auburn, which improves to 5-1 on the season, had 12 hits including three for extra bases. The Tigers scored four runs in the first, another in the six and two more in the eighth.
Bo Decker was 3-of-3 with two RBI. Josh Anthony had two hits and one RBI. Daniel Robert, Dylan Ingram and Jonah Todd had an RBI apiece.
The three-game series continues Saturday at noon and concludes Sunday at noon. Sunday’s game will be available for streaming on SECN+ and Watch ESPN.
GAME NOTES
** Keegan hasn’t allowed a run in his first two starts, which total 14.0 innings. He’s allowed five hits, struck out six and issued two walks. He used his slider as his out pitch for most of Friday’s outing. He mixed it with a fastball the first five-plus innings. He didn’t use his curve until the sixth when Holy Cross leadoff hitter Josh Hassell came up for the third time. “My slider was definitely sharper this week. It had more bite to it and I didn't really leave it up as much,” Keegan said.
** Anthony made a couple of big-time defensive plays in the third. He charged in on a slow roller down the line and fired a strike to throw out the runner for the first out of the inning. He ended the inning diving toward the bag to catch a hard line drive.
** Decker now has three hits in three-straight games to raise his average to .522. He started the season 0-of-9.
** Holy Cross starter Phil Reese gave up four runs on five hits in the first inning and then settled in to allow just two hits over the next four innings before turning it over to the bullpen in the sixth.