Auburn baseball run-rules Samford in Hoover: Recap

Auburn baseball set an early tone in its game with Samford on Tuesday, which allowed it to coast to a run-rule victory.

The No. 9 Tigers logged nine runs before Samford had the chance to respond, and kept Samford off the scoreboard in six of seven innings in its 14-2, 7-inning run-rule win over the Bulldogs at the Hoover Met in Hoover, Alabama.

Auburn's offense was electric from the very beginning as the Tigers scored nine runs on seven hits. Eric Guevara logged three RBI in two different at-bats in the 1st inning, two on a home run to put Auburn on the board, and one more on a one-out single. Ethin Bingaman joined Guevara by hitting a two-run home run, and Eddie Madrigal added a run on a single. Two more runs scored in the inning, one on a fielding error off the bat of Mason McCraine, and he would later score on a Chase Fralick groundout.

“The guys just came out swinging the bat," Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said postgame. "I was most impressed by (Eric) Guevara’s at-bat, the second at-bat he had in the first inning. He hit the home run, but that low line drive the other way lets you know the guys were locked in.”

Samford's Cade Carr responded by hitting a two-run home run in the bottom half of the 1st inning, but that would become the only notable knock of the game for the Bulldogs as they recorded all five hits over the first four innings of the game. Auburn scored the rest of its runs on a pair of RBI doubles from Mason McCraine and Chris Rembert, a solo home run by Eddie Madrigal, a bases-loaded walk, and a wild pitch.

Five Tigers recorded multiple hits on Tuesday, with Madrigal leading the way with three, while Guevara led the team in RBI with three.

“It was good,” Madrigal said of his performance. “I was just trying to hit the ball and keep it simple. It felt good to get a ball outside of the yard today. Been chasing that feeling and it was good to feel that.”

LJ Cormier earned the win in relief by striking out five of the seven batters he faced over two innings, allowing just one hit. Griffin Graves allowed two runs on four hits in his start that lasted two innings, and he gave up the pitching staff's lone walk of the game. Abe Chancellor, Christian Chatterton, and Marcel Kulik combined to strike out four batters over the final three innings without allowing a hit or a walk. Kulik slammed the door by striking out all three batters he faced in the 7th inning.