AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn Baseball struggled to produce runs as they dropped the second game of the series and season against Holy Cross Saturday night.
LSU transfer Samuel Dutton made his Auburn debut, going four and a third innings, and allowing three runs (one earned) on five hits, three walks, and seven strikeouts, picking up the loss. John Armstrong came in relief and got Auburn out of the 5th before Opelika native and true freshman Jackson Sanders provided two shutout innings. Parker Carlson would pitch a scoreless inning before Hayden Murphy gave up one in the ninth.
One of the biggest disappointments today for Auburn, though, was the lack of production on offense. Auburn could muster just five hits and two runs throughout the game.
“We feel like our offense is really supposed to do some damage, and we were far from it today.” said Auburn head coach Butch Thompson.
While it was a middling offensive performance, the ball also did not seem to roll Auburn's way. Several times they roped balls that seemed destined to fall but found the gloves of the Holy Cross fielders instead. Offensively, Bristol Carter was Auburns best hitter, going two for four with a walk and scoring both of Auburns runs. Cade Belyeu and Cooper McMurray each went one for three with a walk, with McMurray getting Auburns lone RBI.
To add on to the Tigers’ lackluster performance, another disappointing facet of the loss was the Tigers’ play defensively with three errors, a couple of which would have led to a potential double play.
“I think those are plays that we expect to make,” said Thompson, “and those guys have shown that they can make or they wouldn’t be on the field.”
Auburn will hope to rebound and take the series tomorrow as game three will start at 1 p.m. CST on the Auburn Sports Network and SEC Network +.
