Tigers walk-off EKU in opener
AUBURN | The bats were hot on opening night.
Cooper Weiss drove a bases-loaded double down the left field line to bring home three and give No. 15 Auburn a 17-6 walk-off win over Eastern Kentucky in the season opener Friday night at Plainsman Park.
The Tigers pounded out 11 hits including five for extra bases led by Ike Irish, who finished 4 of 5 with three runs scored, one double, one home run and four RBI.
Weiss and Mason Maners had two hits apiece while Chris Stanfield drove in four including a three-run home run in the first.
"Stanfield had the big swing in the first and Ike played pretty good tonight and swung the bat and carried us there," said AU coach Butch Thompson. "Top to bottom, I thought everyone was engaged."
AU benefitted from 12 walks, one hit batter, four balks and three EKU errors.
Tanner Bauman (1-0) threw 1.1 perfect innings out of the bullpen to earn the win, retiring all four batters he faced on 18 pitches.
"Bauman was my pitcher of the game," said Thompson. "He was able to make a pitch, get out of an inning and then throw another clean inning."
Auburn broke on top with four runs in the first as Maners doubled and scored on a balk, and Stanfield lined a three-run home run over the wall in left center.
"It was huge," said Irish of Stanfield's home run. "We hadn't had a big hit yet. Getting the first hit of the year is always the hardest. Stanfield doing that kind of energized us and the crowd as well."
EKU struck right back with three in the second on a two-run home run by Tait Nunnally and a solo home run by Max Williams.
AU got three back in the second with EKU starter Isaac Milburn’s third of four balks to score Gavin Miller from third base, and Irish’s two-RBI single.
Irish added a solo home run over the batter’s eye in the fourth.
"That's got to be the furthest ball I've ever hit," said Irish.
After EKU scored two unearned runs in the fifth, Irish had an RBI-groundout, Bobby Peirce a two-RBI single, and Miller and Deric Fabian walked with the bases loaded to extend AU’s lead to 13-5 in the sixth.
AU added a run in the seventh on a bases-loaded walk by Stanfield before Weiss’ game-ending double.
Auburn starter Chase Allsup allowed five runs, three earned, in 4.2 innings. He struck out five and didn’t issue a walk on 81 pitches.
"I thought Allsup was dominant in the first and third innings," said Thompson. "That's going to happen in the second but it's not like he fell apart. I feel like he's growing and getting in the strike zone."
Freshman Cam Tilly closed out the game allowing one run in 1.0 inning.
The series continues Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. CT. Both games will be available on SECN+/ESPN+.