Auburn baseball gets series win vs. Little Rock after two shutouts

Auburn baseball Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
Auburn baseball Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

Auburn baseball finished the weekend with a series victory over Little Rock after two wins and a loss on Sunday. The Tigers shut out the Trojans in both the series opener and the Saturday game but could not pull off the sweep.

In Friday’s matchup, Cody Greenhill dominated the mound, pitching five scoreless innings consisting of 58 pitches, three hits, one walk, and five strikeouts. Peyton Glavine and Carson Swilling finished up the shutout, Glavine striking out a career-high five batters and Swilling striking out one.

Ryan Bliss put Auburn on the board in the first inning with a home run and the Tigers reached seven runs with Tyler Miller’s three-run homer in the fifth.

Saturday may have felt like deja vu for the Trojans as they were once again left scoreless at the end of the game. Sophomore Mason Barnett threw a career-high seven scoreless innings and struck out a career-high nine batters.

Blake Burkhalter took over in the eighth and finished up the second shutout with a career-high four strikeouts. Cam Hill drove in the Tigers’ first run in the second inning and they bumped the lead to 5-0 in the seventh inning with a Kason Howell single and a Ryan Bliss double.

In the series finale, Auburn scored three runs in the first inning to get an early 4-1 lead, but the Trojans scored six runs in the fifth inning and five different Tigers took the mound. Auburn struggled at bat and was unable to put runs on the board.

Little Rock had 14 hits in the final five innings to score 11 unanswered points. Brody Moore recorded his first career home run in the bottom of the ninth, and the final score at Plainsman Park was 12-6.

Auburn baseball will next travel to Nashville to take on Lipscomb at 4pm on Tuesday.