Auburn Daily

TAKEAWAYS from Auburn baseball's game one victory over Southern California

Auburn's bullpen comes up big in the victory to open the relocated series

Lindsay Crosby

TAKEAWAYS from Auburn baseball's game one victory over Southern California
TAKEAWAYS from Auburn baseball's game one victory over Southern California /

Auburn baseball hung on to defeat Southern California in game one of the series, moved to Auburn from Los Angeles due to weather, by a final of 5-3. Here's what you need to know: 

Auburn's got some real weapons out of the bullpen 

Chase Allsup got another turn as the Friday night starter, and even though he struggled to consistently land the first pitch for a strike, he did enough to keep Auburn in the game. Head coach Butch Thompson was happier with this week's effort from Allsup. 

"Allsup competed his heart out. What could have happened, in that inning where they showed bunt and affected us, got the HBP and the walk to get bases loaded with nobody out and they're at the heart of that lineup again, he absolutely, I thought, showed another gear. He absolutely got out of that inning, (it) was huge."  

"So Chase got through something (the 3rd inning jam) and came back out and gave us a little bit more." 

(Allsup's final line: 3.2 IP, 5H, 1R, 2BB, 2K. 72 pitches w/46 strikes) 

Righty John Armstrong was called on in the "fireman" role to work out of a jam in the 4th - two runners on and two outs - and it took just two pitches for the sidearmer to get a weak groundball that Nate LaRue easily scooped and fired to 1st to end the inning. And with Auburn's offensive explosion coming in the 4th, Armstrong earned the win, too.  

Auburn turned to Tanner Bauman, the junior out of St. John's River State, to start the 5th and he "grinded" out a victory for Auburn. Said Bauman, "You obviously don't want to give up six freebies (walks) [...] We're all just competing out there. You saw a different type of energy on the mound. I think the four guys that threw, we all knew we got a job to do and we have confidence that we're going to get these guys out." Bauman went 3.2 IP with one hit, two runs, and three walks to three strikeouts in the contest. 

With a two-out RBI triple in the 8th cutting the lead to two runs, Thompson went ahead and made the change to Cannon for a four-out save. 

"I really thought Bauman would squeeze out the eighth, but after the triple, we absolutely wanted to get to Cannon. [...] I wanted to get Cannon back out there and treat him like that (the closer), get him the feel of that role and he absolutely grinded it out."

Thompson marveled about how much the team has taken to Will Cannon in the closer's role. "Will absolutely just did enough, but I think there's confidence that when those eight guys are sitting out there with him, he's won those guys over at this point. He's absolutely won our guys over and that's who they want out there. [...] I think they believe that Will's gonna absolutely compete his heart out for them and I think that's what's tracking really well for Will right now."    

The offense did enough

Auburn had only eight hits in the contest, with only two of them coming back to back, but found ways to win. Whether it was back to back sacrifices to move runners from 1st to 3rd, or executing a perfect bunt, the offense put up four runs in the 4th inning and the bullpen made it work. 

Justin Kirby has the wildest statline of the season

The transfer outfielder from Kent State added insurance in the 7th via a homerun over the Monster, his third hit of the season. All three hits have been solo homeruns. It's a statline that some of his fellow players are amazed by. 

Said Foster, "When it happened and Bobby told me, I didn't believe it at the time. When the scoreboard came back on, it said three hits, three homeruns or something. That's crazy. Interesting. Good stat line." 

On the season, Kirby is 3-14 with 3 HRs, 6 runs scored, 4 RBIs, 7 walks to 4 strikeouts. 

Auburn's hitters struggled to square the changeup tonight 

We spotted tonight's USC pitcher, Tyler Stromsborg, warming up with a football and it helped craft the scouting report. 

The changeup was indeed working for Stromsborg - he notched seven putouts in his 5.2 innings, consistently inducing weak groundball contact that he could easily scoop and fire. Said Thompson, "It's kind of like Joseph's set last week - you knew what they were trying to do. We talked about setting our sights and making adjustments. Eventually wound up getting four on a pretty good arm."  

Saturday's game

First pitch is at 2PM, but there's going to be some changes. RHP Joseph Gonzalez is unavailable due to a recurrence of the shoulder soreness that held him out spring practice - and so Auburn will have transfer RHP Christian Herberholz for game two as they try for a series win. 

The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+ and the radio call, with Brad Law and Paul Ellen, will be available locally on 95.9FM and online at AuburnTigers.com.

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Published
Lindsay Crosby
LINDSAY CROSBY

Senior Writer, covering Auburn Tigers baseball Also: Host of Locked on MLB Prospects (on twitter at @LockedOnFarm), Managing Editor of @Braves_Today, member of the National College Baseball Writers Association and the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America

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