GAME 1: Auburn crushes Wichita State, 19-8
Tigers’ offense explodes for 16 walks, 10 hits in victory
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Cooper McMurray launched a grand slam and the Auburn Tigers smashed the Wichita State Shockers 19-8 in seven innings at 121 Financial Ballpark.
Auburn (6-0) jumped out to a huge lead in their first at-bats. Cooper Weiss led off the game by doubling off Wichita State (2-3) starter Tommy LaPour (0-1). Ike Irish and Bobby Peirce each drew walks to load the bases for McMurray, who promptly cleared them with a grand slam to right. Chris Stanfield then singled before a two-base pickoff error sent him to third. He scored on a balk to make it 5-0.
Weiss jumpstarted the second with a free pass. After a fielder’s choice, Peirce clubbed his second home run in as many days to widen the gap to 7-0.
The Shockers got on the board in their half of the second. Derek Williams was hit by a pitch with one out before advancing to third on a Seth Stroh single. Dayvin Johnson then blasted a three-run shot to cut the deficit to 7-3.
The Tigers answered with four-run spots in both the third and fourth innings. Mason Maners drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a ground out. Walks to Deric Fabian and Weiss then loaded the bases. Irish followed with an RBI single to plate Maners and an error brought in Fabian. McMurry notched an RBI single before Stanfield lifted a sacrifice fly to make it 11-3.
Maners doubled to jumpstart the fourth. Consecutive walks to Cale Stricklin and Fabian juiced the bases. A fielder’s choice scored Maners and put runners on the corners. A wild pitch on ball four to Irish scored another run. Peirce was hit by a pitch to load the bases again, and McMurray earned another free pass to increase the lead to 11. Stanfield then collected another sacrifice fly to put the Tigers ahead 15-3.
In the bottom of the fifth, Camden Johnson doubled with one out and moved to third on a wild pitch. Jaden Gustafson was hit by a pitch and then Johnson scored on Williams’ RBI two-bagger. Lane Haworth recorded an RBI single to draw the Shockers within 15-6.
Auburn answered with another big inning in the sixth. Peirce singled and Miller walked to start the frame. After a fly out, Javon Hernandez walked to load the bases. Cade Belyeu’s sacrifice fly set the margin back to 10 runs. After another walk to juice the bases, Fabian cleared the bags with a double to get the score to 19-6.
Will Stark walked and Kam Durnin singled to start the bottom of the sixth for the Shockers. After a pair of strikeouts, Gustafson reached on a hit-by-pitch. A wild pitch then brought home Stark to make it 19-7.
The Shockers scored once more in the bottom of the seventh. Haworth walked and advanced to third on Johnson’s single. Haworth then scored on a double play ground ball to get the final margin of 19-8.
Wichita State plays Iowa at noon on Sunday, with Auburn wrapping up the Jax College Baseball Classic with a 4 p.m. first pitch against Virginia. Fans can purchase tickets on www.JaxCBC.com, and coverage is available on www.D1Baseball.com.
GAME 2: Virginia rallies from six-run deficit, edges Iowa 12-9
Tigers’ offense explodes for 16 walks, 10 hits in victory
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Down 6-0 after the first inning on Saturday, the Virginia Cavaliers rallied to slip by the Iowa Hawkeyes 12-9 at 121 Financial Ballpark.
The score was tied at nine when Henry Godbout doubled against Iowa (3-3) reliever Zach Voelker (0-1) to lead off the ninth. Pinch-hitter Bobby Whalen singled to move Godbout to third. Another pinch-hitter, Luke Hanson, was hit by a pitch to load the bases with nobody out. After a force out at the plate, Anthony Stephan walked to force in the go-ahead run for Virginia (6-0). Two batters later, Henry Ford singled in a pair to make it 12-9.
Ryan Osinski (1-) worked 0.2 innings for the win and Blake Barker got the final three outs for his first save.
Michael Seegers singled to begin the game for the Hawkeyes and went to third on Sam Petersen’s double. Raider Tello followed with a triple to plate the game’s first runs. Davis Cop then was hit by a pitch. A wild pitch moved Cop to second before another wild pitch moved both runners up, plating Tello to make it 3-0. Kyle Huckstorf followed with a three-run home run to make it a six-spot for Iowa in the first.
Virginia began whittling things away in the third. Eric Becker reached to start the inning when he was hit by a pitch. After a pair of outs, Ethan Anderson and Ford each drew walks to load the bases. Casey Saucke then registered a two-run single to put the Cavaliers on the board at 6-2.
Back-to-back two-out doubles by Gable Mitchell and Ben Wilmes, who finished a homer shy of the cycle, allowed the Hawkeyes to get a run back in the bottom of the third to make it 7-2.
In the fourth, Godbout singled and Jacob Ference walked to jumpstart the Virginia frame. Becker doubled in Ference before Griff O’Ferrall walked to load the bases. A wild pitch turned the carousel to bring home Ference and Becker scored on an RBI ground out by Stephan to bring the Wahoos within two. The Cavaliers then tied the game at seven when Anderson launched a two-run home run to right field.
The Hawkeyes immediately came back to take the lead again. Petersen was hit by a pitch leading off the bottom of the fourth. He stole second and Tello was plunked by another pitch. Cop followed with an RBI base knock to bring in Petersen and make it 8-7.
The score remained that way until the seventh, when Saucke led off by homering to right to tie the game again. In the eighth, Stephan walked and Andersen singled with one out. Following an infield fly, Saucke made it 9-8 with an RBI single to right.
This time, it was Iowa’s turn to rally. Petersen singled to start the bottom of the eighth. He advanced all the way to third on a ground out to third and then scored on an error to even things at nine.
Wichita State plays Iowa at noon on Sunday, with Auburn wrapping up the Jax College Baseball Classic with a 4 p.m. first pitch against Virginia. Fans can purchase tickets on www.JJaxCBC.com, and coverage is available on www.D1Baseball.com.
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