Mize dominates in 2-1 win

Casey Mize struck out 12 in seven shutout innings to lead No. 7 Auburn to a 2-1 win over Texas A&M at Blue Bell Park.

Mize (5-1) allowed just two hits and issued one walk to earn his first-career road win. He’s struck out a career-high 12 in two consecutive Friday night starts.

“Every time his back got against the wall he stepped it up a notch and made a pitch. It was just a special outing,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “This is a good run for him with a lot of confidence and I have a lot of faith and trust in him.”

The Tigers improve to 24-8 overall and 8-2 in the SEC, matching their conference win total from a year ago. Auburn is 9-2 in one-run games.

“It was a lot of fun,” Mize said. “This place is really cool to pitch at. It’s kind of like they’re all on top of you. My stuff was not as sharp in the beginning but then I settled in.”

Cole Lipscomb worked a scoreless eighth but gave up a solo home run to Joel Davis to leadoff the ninth. Andrew Mitchell came in to retire the final three batters and record his second save of the season.

“It means the world to win Friday night and have Keegan (Thompson) coming back on Saturday. We couldn’t ask for a better situation,” Mitchell said.

Auburn got all the runs it needed in the third inning on a a double down the left field line by Jay Estes to score Dylan Ingram and Will Holland. The Tigers had six hits on the night including two doubles by Estes.

“Jay Estes, big at-bat,” Thompson said. “We did enough, especially on the road in this league. Man, you take whatever you can get and we had to scratch and claw for this one tonight.”

Texas A&M falls to 20-11 overall and 3-7 in the SEC. TAMU starter Brigham Hill (5-3) took the loss allowing two runs on five hits with eight strikeouts and four walks in 6.0 innings.

Game two of the series will be Saturday at 3 p.m. CT. It will not be televised.

“What a team victory for us tonight,” Thompson said. “Now we have an opportunity to win a series on the road and keep up a streak we’ve had all year. We need to come out hungry.”