AUBURN | Auburn brought in a talented group of 23 newcomers in the offseason.
They were a huge part of the Tigers sweeping Florida State, 4-1 and 9-5, in two seven-inning exhibition games Saturday in Pensacola, Fla.
One of the biggest standouts was freshman Chris Rembert, who had three hits in six at-bats with two doubles, one triple and four RBI. He also threw a runner out at the plate from left field in game one and played second base in game two.
Two other freshmen stood out in the field in outfielder/first baseman D’Marion Terrell, who was 3 of 7 with one double and one RBI, and first baseman/third baseman Chase Fralick, who was 1 of 4 with one RBI.
“They have all three earned the right to be in that lineup. They performed. All of those guys had multiple hits,” said AU coach Butch Thompson. “Rembert was the star of the show.”
A couple of other newcomers stood out during the doubleheader including Texas A&M transfer outfielder Jett Johnston, who was 2 of 4 with a double, and USF transfer infielder Eric Snow, who was 1 of 4 with one RBI.
On the mound, freshmen Christian Chatterton, Jackson Sanders and Connor Gatwood all threw a scoreless inning. Florida transfer Cade Fisher threw 1.2 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, Creighton transfer Mason Koch 1.1 scoreless innings with two strikeouts and Cal Baptist transfer Ryan Hetzler 1.2 scoreless innings with three strikeouts.
“Both coaching staffs got to see 27 pitchers in a ballgame and every position player that both teams carried got in a game. That’s a win all the way around,” said Thompson.
MORE STANDOUTS: A number of AU’s returning players performed well led by Ike Irish, who was 3 of 5 with four runs scored and a double, and Eric Guevara, who was 3 of 6 with a double and two RBI. Deric Fabian was 2 of 6 with one RBI and Cade Stricklin 2 of 2 with a run scored. John Armstrong, Hayden Murphy and Cam Tilly threw a scoreless inning apiece with Murphy and Tilly striking out two.
“The score was 4-1 the first game and Eric Guevara made an unbelievable backhand play with runners on second and third and two outs or you’ve got a one-run game,” said Thompson.
THROWING STRIKES: After struggling from the mound most of last season, Auburn has been working hard on throwing more strikes. AU was 13th in the SEC last season with a 5.94 team ERA. Against the Seminoles, AU had 20 strikeouts and just four walks in 14.0 innings.
“My most impressive thing and what we’re striving for is percentage of strikes,” said Thompson. “We had played four intrasquad games at home prior to traveling and not one of those days was over 58 percent. It just pointed out that we can’t do the things we need to do to really get our pitching staff back where it needs to be to play a high level of baseball like we’ve done in the past. They went out there for 14 innings and threw 65 percent strikes.”
BUILDING CONFIDENCE: There’s still a long way to go until Auburn opens the season Feb. 14, but playing well against FSU, which advanced to the semifinals of last season’s College World Series, is certainly something the coaching staff can build on.
“That’s probably a pretty good test and barometer of where we’re trying to go,” said Thompson. “Every time you take the field and some good things happen, I think confidence comes from acquiring skill. The three young guys, all of the young pitchers and even the first-time pitchers in our program can build confidence from that. We absolutely can glean something from the outing. It was so, so positive for so many reasons.”
