Mize strikes out 11; Tigers win big

RALEIGH, N.C. | Casey Mize got more than enough runs Saturday night.

The Auburn All-American held Army to one run while the offense pounded out 17 hits including eight for extra bases as the Tigers won 12-1 at Doak Field to advance to the finals of the winner’s bracket of the Raleigh Regional.

"Good win for our program. Well pitched, well defended and I really thought Army presents so many issues and challenges with their short game," Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. "I thought Casey was really impressive. I think what I’ll remember in this outing was his ability to field his position.

"I was starting to wonder if we were going to put something together because they were really good on the mound up to that point and we just kind of hung in there with the big inning. The big inning was huge for us and the guys are pretty resilient and hit some balls hard."

Auburn, the No. 2 seed, will face the winner of Sunday afternoon’s elimination game between No. 1 seed N.C. State and No. 4 seed Army at 6 p.m. CT. The Tigers are a win away from advancing to their second Super Regional in school history and first since 1999.

Mize (10-5) allowed just one earned run on four hits in 7.0 innings, striking out 11 and issuing two walks on 95 pitches. It’s the final start for the right-hander before Monday’s MLB Draft in which he’s projected to be the No. 1 overall pick.

“The rain was tough. The ball was slipping out of my hand," Mize said. "I threw a lot more fastballs and I had a bunch sail on me and I didn’t locate well but I was just trying to shove fastball in the strike zone.”

Auburn, which averaged just 2.4 runs per game in Mize’s last five starts including four of his five losses, gave the junior all he needed with a nine-run fifth inning that included two home runs, three doubles and two Army errors.

It’s the first time Auburn has scored more than four runs for Mize since plating 19 at Alabama April 20.

“We always want to do our best for Casey," said Josh Anthony, who had three hits and drove in two runs. "Casey is our bulldog. Anytime he gets on the mound, we just want to show him that we have his back. We did an unbelievable job of that tonight."

The Tigers sent 13 batters to the plate in the fifth as Anthony and Will Holland led off the inning with back-to-back solo home runs. Edouard Julien added an RBI single, Luke Jarvis drove home two with a double and Anthony added an RBI double. Auburn added two more runs on a throwing error by Army shortstop Trey Martin.

It’s the most runs in an inning since the Tigers struck for 11 in the eighth at Alabama April 21.

Anthony was 3-of-4 with two runs scored and two RBI, Holland 2-of-5 with three runs scored and two RBI, Julien 2-of-4 with one run scored and one RBI, Jarvis 2-of-5 with two runs scored and two RBI and Jay Estes 2-of-4 with one run scored and one RBI.

Brett Wright was 1-of-5 with a solo home run in the fourth, his 11th of the season.

Elliott Anderson pitched a scoreless eighth and Corey Herndon a scoreless ninth to close out the win.

Auburn, which improves to 41-21, will send Andrew Mitchell (2-2, 4.01 ERA) to the mound to face either N.C. State or Army Sunday night on ESPN3.