MONTGOMERY, Ala (EETV) - Auburn walks past South Alabama 2-1 in a good old-fashioned pitchers duel in Riverwalk Stadium.
Offensively the night was quiet, for both teams, with only three runs being scored. In a game that saw eleven pitchers, four from Auburn and seven from South Alabama, it was those pitchers who controlled and managed the game. Christian Herberholz got the starting nod for the Tigers going 3.0 innings and allowing two hits with four strikeouts and no runs. South Alabama started Leif Moore who went 3.0 innings allowing no hits and no runs.
South Alabama scored the first run of the night jumping out to a 1-0 lead with a solo homerun from Lucas Ismaili in the top of the fourth. After giving up a homerun to his first batter Alex Petrovic settled in and retired eight in a row, Petrovic ended the day with 3.0 innings allowing one run off two hits and punching out four Jaguar batters.
"I think I started trying to be way too perfect," Petrovic said when asked about settling down after the homerun. "Made too many pitches where I didn't want them to be, not trusting my stuff. I realized I was doing that and second batter, I knew I was going to go after him and not let that (homerun) happen again, and was consistent trhought the rest of my outing.
Auburn took the lead in the bottom of the seventh with back-to-back bases-loaded walks from Cooper Weiss and Ike Irish. Auburn took advantage of a faulty inning from the Jaguar's bullpen capitalizing on four walks, a wild pitch and a costly error from Jaguar shortstop JG Bell. Auburn's plate discipline has been above average all year and it's because of that discipline that they were able to take the lead. Ike Irish earned himself another hit tonight stretching his hitting streak to seven games.
Auburn's bullpen kept the bases quiet and carried Auburn to the win thanks to Petrovic, Parker Carlson, who went 2.0 innings allowing no runs off zero hits and also struck out four and is credited with the win, and Dylan Watts. Watts went just the ninth and allowed no runs off one hit and struck out one and is given the save. The Tiger staff as a whole struck out 13 batters, while only walking one.
Pitching and defense was the name of the game for both the South Alabama Jaguars and the Auburn Tigers. The Jaguars pitchers kept the ball in the ballpark allowing their defense to make plays. The Jaguar pitching staff forced Auburn to fly out six times, ground out 10 times and struck seven out.
The Tigers are back in action against the number-one-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks at Plainsman Park on Thursday, March 21 at 6 p.m. CT. This is Auburn's first SEC home series of the season.
