Auburn dominates Texas A&M in 2-hit shutout to advance to SEC Tournament semifinals
By David Wasson
Published:
The sixth-ranked Auburn baseball team turned in a dominant pitching performance Friday night to down ninth-ranked Texas A&M 7-0 and advance to the SEC Tournament semifinals in front of 13,105 at the Hoover Met.
Sixth-seeded Auburn (38-18) advances to play seventh-seeded Arkansas in Saturday’s semifinal round (5 pm ET, SEC Network). Texas A&M (39-14) awaits a likley at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament, which begins next week with regional tournaments at campus sites.
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The Auburn pitching duo of Andreas Alvarez and LJ Cormier were the story Friday night. Alvarez (9-3) allowed just one hit over five innings with nine strikeouts. Cormier was equally effective, earning his second save by allowing just one more hit over the final four innings with four more strikeouts.
Auburn’s Bub Terrell doubled home a run in the first, and the Tigers broke the game wide open in the second – as Mason McCraine belted a solo homer, Chase Fralick smacked a two-run double and Eric Guevara added an RBI single for a 5-0 lead.
Chris Rembert hit an RBI double in the sixth and Ethin Bingaman ripped a solo homer in the seventh as Auburn rattled off 11 hits. Ethan Darden didn’t make it past the first inning to take the loss for Texas A&M.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
