AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn (3-0) beat Eastern Kentucky (0-3) 9-1 Sunday afternoon at Plainsman Park and completed the sweep. It was a strong opening series for the Tigers, and Sunday’s game featured a group of newcomers poised to have a big impact this season.
The starter for Sunday’s game for Auburn was Carson Myers. Myers transferred to Auburn after two seasons at UAB and made his first start as a Tiger on Sunday. He pitched six innings allowing no runs on just two hits and struck out eight. It was a dominant performance.
“(Carson) Myers had a little bit of everything, but it just felt like he kept throwing strike one with that fastball,” Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said. “He kept getting ahead of hitters and I thought that was a huge piece for Carson’s success.”
Two of Auburn’s weekend rotation spots are all but set in stone with Chase Allsup and Joseph Gonzalez, but the third spot is up for grabs. With Myers’s strong showing on Sunday, he made a strong case that the third spot should be his.
“The last few weeks he’s earned this right,” Thompson said. “And he absolutely continued to pitch the way he’s been pitching recently.”
Auburn had to replace key pieces to last year’s lineup, and the newcomers struggled for the first two games. On Sunday it all changed. After sophomore catcher Ike Irish drove in the first run of the game, the transfers shouldered the rest of the load. In the bottom of the second, another UAB transfer, designated hitter Christian Hall hit a two-run home run to extend Auburn’s lead to three.
As Myers continued to work through Eastern Kentucky’s lineup, the Tigers continued to put runs on the board. Transfer shortstop Cooper Weiss singled in the third and drove in one, and he was followed up by transfer third-baseman Deric Fabian who also singled and drove in a run. Fabian added another RBI single in the bottom of the fifth inning giving the Tigers more insurance. Hall, Weiss, and Fabian drove in six of Auburn’s nine runs.
Both Fabian and Weiss had big shoes to fill replacing former third-baseman Bryson Ware and shortstop Cole Foster respectively. Sunday was a good sign for Thompson that both are ready to meet the challenge.
“It was good to get our feet wet, for sure,” Auburn transfer third-baseman Deric Fabian said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do for sure, though.”
Auburn will hope to build on the weekend sweep on Tuesday when they take on UAB back in Plainsman Park. First pitch is at 6:00 p.m. on SEC Network+ and the Auburn Sports Network.
