On a Tuesday night at Plainsman Park for “Bark in the Park” night, it was fitting for the Auburn Tigers to be taking on the Samford Bulldogs in a mid-week showdown of the in-state teams. The Bulldogs started it off early with taking two early walks followed by a 6-4-3 double play hit by Kaden Dreier that brought in the Bulldogs only run of the game. That was all the scoring the Bulldogs would have for the evening. For the rest of the game, Auburn’s pitchers would have seventeen strikeouts only allowing three hits from the Bulldogs for the rest of the game.
The Tigers got the scoring started in the third inning with a Cam Hill single to drive in Kason Howell. The ballgame would remain tied until a Brody Moore two out RBI single to right that would bring home Jake Wyandt. Brody Moore would later on have another RBI, this time bringing in Kason Howell after Howell’s leadoff triple in the bottom of the seventh.
Auburn would hold a two run lead until an eighth inning home run to left by Bobby Peirce, his first home run of the season.
“First one since my freshman year in junior college…that one felt pretty good.” said Peirce after the 413 foot homer over Auburn’s version of the green monster in left. Jordan Armstrong would close out the game for the Tigers striking out three in a row in the ninth to give the Tigers the 4-1 victory in front of 3,725 fans.
After the game, Coach Butch Thompson said “they didn’t give up” once the Tigers got down early in the contest. “Give Samford credit…they manipulated the swing plan tonight, and it was ground ball after ground ball after ground ball.”
Auburn is 23-10 on the season and now travels to Starkville, Mississippi this weekend for a Thursday, Friday, Saturday series against the defending national champion Mississippi State Bulldogs.
When asked about the challenge ahead this weekend, Coach Thompson said “every week is a big challenge. Someone said 'big game tomorrow' and I’m like 'they’re all big baby'”.
Tigers look to keep it rolling this weekend in Starkville and the rest of the way as they are now ranked No. 17 in the country according to Baseball America.
