Luckie leads Tigers past VMI

By Collin Mickle

Published: March 8, 2008

The weather at Plainsman Park on Saturday was near freezing.

But Auburn’s Cory Luckie was cooler than ice.

The freshman left-hander threw a complete game in AU’s 10-1 win against the Keydets. It’s Auburn’s fifth consecutive win and Luckie’s second win in three starts.

“He was phenomenal,” Auburn head coach Tom Slater said. “It’s fun to watch the guy pitch. Just a phenomenal performance by Cory.”

Luckie confessed to a few pregame butterflies, but said he relaxed as soon as the game started.

“I’ve come to learn now that you’re going to be nervous before that first pitch every time,” he said. “As long as you get that first strike over, you’re fine.”

Luckie (2-1) never looked nervous Saturday against VMI (4-6). And he did it efficiently, throwing just 101 pitches, and never more than 14 in an inning.

And his 101st pitch — a slider that struck out VMI’s Ryan Barefoot and ended the game — was as impressive as his first one. In between, he struck out seven and limited VMI to eight hits, all singles.

But though he made it look easy, Luckie admitted the weather was a challenge.

“It’s really hard to perform on a cold day like this,” Luckie said. “On a day like this, when it’s so cold and so windy, you have to be really focused.”

Meanwhile, Auburn’s offense battered VMI starter Michael Bowman (0-2). While Luckie cruised through innings, keeping his pitch count low, Bowman — VMI’s ace — threw 33 pitches in the first inning.

AU (9-4) scored 8 runs in the first three innings, all against Bowman. Slater credited his hitter’s patience, starting with an eight-pitch at-bat by leadoff hitter Trent Mummey in the first inning.

“I thought our kids, up and down the lineup, built at-bats against him, raised his pitch count,” Slater said. “When you do that, you score runs, like we did.”

The series concludes at 2 p.m. today. Sophomore right-hander Scott Shuman (1-0, 1.80 ERA) will start for Auburn against VMI right-hander Chris Henderson (2-0, 1.32).

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