AU baseball sweeps ETSU with ease

By Collin Mickle

Published: February 25, 2008

It’s still very early in the college baseball season.

But in four games against lowly East Tennessee State, Auburn’s offense looked to be in midseason form.

The offense continued its hot start in Monday’s game, pounding ETSU’s pitching in a 12-2 win. The victory handed the Tigers a sweep of the four-game series.

Auburn scored 12 runs for the third consecutive game. And the offensive balance — AU had 11 hits and eight of nine starters reached base
at least once — was exactly what head coach Tom Slater wanted to see, once again.

“Saturday, Sunday and today we did a nice job from top to bottom in the lineup,” Slater said.

Auburn (4-0) led 11-2 after the fourth inning.

Freshman first baseman Hunter Morris capped a big series with a two-run home run in the second inning off ETSU starter Bo Burton (0-1).

After a 1-for-5 showing in the season opener, Morris went 6-for-13 with five RBI in the subsequent three games.

“The first night was not Hunter Morris,” Slater said. “The rest of the weekend, that’s Hunter Morris.“

Junior outfielder Ben Jones hit his first career home run in the eighth inning.

ETSU (0-4) scored a run in each of the first two innings off Auburn starter Austin Hubbard. But AU’s offense provided plenty of support for Hubbard (1-0), who settled down to pitch five innings.

“Austin had a little struggle early and then he settled in a little bit,” Slater said.

For the fourth consecutive game, Auburn’s bullpen was impressive. Four Tigers each threw an inning of scoreless relief.

The bullpen combined for 15 innings and just one earned run in the four-game series. Six relievers made at least one appearance.

“The pitching story of the weekend was our bullpen,” Slater said. “I thought our bullpen did a tremendous job every day.“

Auburn’s schedule gets tougher in a hurry: The Tigers begin a four-game series against No. 11 Florida State on Thursday at Plainsman Park.

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