Regional Round-up: vs Army

Game 4 - #2 Auburn (1-0) vs #4 Army (1-0)

Saturday: 12-1 W

This was a classic over match 4 seed vs the Ace of a program and perhaps the country. Army got one really good swing on Casey Mize and it was the only run they scored. Mize on the evening was pedestrian for his standards, going 7 innings of 1 run, 4 hit baseball with 11 Ks and 2….yes 2 walks. He gave way to Elliott Anderson and Corey Herndon who finished off the final two innings without real noise, giving up a hit each. On the offensive side, the Tigers enjoyed one of their most productive innings of the season and possibly that I have ever witnessed an Auburn team have. In the 5^th, the Tigers struck for 9 runs on 7 hits. They were aided by 2 Black Knight errors (very uncommon for a solid Army infield, in case you were wondering) and only left one runner on. The Tigers had back to back home runs, both solo jobs, and still had 7 more runs to score in the inning. On the evening, the Tigers walked off with 17 hits and looked solid in very messy conditions due to a flood that hit at the end of the NC State-Northeastern game and the start of this game.

Overall, you could not hand place Auburn in a better position as they head to the Regional Final. Tanner Burns and Casey Mize, along with the Auburn offense who gave both run support, have saved the entire bullpen with hopefully 9 innings left to play in Raleigh. If it does have to go to Monday, I still like Auburn’s chances just because of the 4 or 5 arms Auburn still has unused. It’s a great place to be, and I cannot wait for tonight!

Around Raleigh

#1 NC State (0-1) vs #3 Northeastern (0-1) – 9-3 NC State

Thanks for playing Northeastern. A great season for the Huskies ended on the hands of Brian Brown, who did everything he could to save the Wolfpack bullpen. The ACC pitcher of the year went CG throwing 131 pitches to do it. The Pack also got their bats going as Patrick Baily went twofer on bombs in the win. With that NC State heads to the Sunday early game vs Army for the right to play Auburn.

Notes from other Regionals

ATHENS – Duke was down 8-5 as they entered the 9^th inning with their season on the line vs Campbell….11 runs later, the Blue Devils will play the loser of the Troy-Georgia game. 11 runs, 11 of them….ELEVEN!

CLEMSON – Vandy was able to get a run in the 5^th to break up a 3-3 tie and held on with some great pitching infront of a hostile crowd in Clemson, 4-3. That puts the Dores a win away from getting out of Clemson again, heading to the Supers and possibly hosting with the events that happened in the State Capital of Florida earlier in the day….but we will get to that in a bit.

CONWAY – How about Washington? In two days, they’ve knocked off UConn, who was suppose to host a regional in the eyes of many, and then they turn around and take down Coastal Carolina at their place. Two huge wins for the Huskies and the Pac-12.

TALLAHASSEE – Through 8 innings, Mississippi State had 3 hits….that’s it. FSU had just a little more success, getting single runs in the 3^rd and 5^th. With a 2-0 lead heading to the 9^th, the rains came and delayed everything for a little more than 2 hours. State came back out and set the Noles down in their half of the 9^th and FSU, looking to save their bullpen, sent back out starter Drew Parrish, who did a dance of walk a batter, retire a batter back to back times. That brought up Elijah MacNamee and then the unthinkable happened.

OH DAVID ROSS BESTILL MY HEART!!!

Here is your updated bracket with game times after Saturday:
2018 NCAA Baseball Tournament-2018-06-03

On Deck

Auburn is in the highest catbird seat of anyone in Raleigh. NC State and Army will run out more pitching to try and get to Auburn for the Regional Title, however they will have to beat the Tigers twice to do so. Auburn is set up beautifully in the pitching department. Look for Andrew Mitchell to being things Sunday evening and Cody Greenhill, Davis Daniel and Calvin Coker will be standing in the wings should Auburn get a lead. Offensively, just keep doing what you’re doing. Auburn has tallied 25 runs in 2 games so far this weekend which is the most in a regional since 2010 when Auburn used 5 games to score 46 runs. Its definitely not a slam dunk one game finish for Auburn, it never is in the tournament, but it’s the best way you could have set it up for Auburn to do so.