Hot-hitting continues in rout of Alabama State

AUBURN | The hits just keep on coming for Auburn.

The Tigers tied a season-high with 21 hits in a 11-0 win over visiting Alabama State Tuesday night at Plainsman Park. All nine Auburn starters had at least one hit led by Joshua Palacios with four.

“I guess our theme tonight would be efficient, professional,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “I thought our at-bats were still really good. For the most part, we took balls and swung at strikes. We had some guys with different angles and a lot of breaking balls coming up there and I thought our guys did a really good job.”

Auburn scored two in the first, four in the third, two in the fourth, two in the fifth and one in the eighth. Palacios finished 4 of 5 with four runs scored. He’s 18 of 29 in the last six games to raise his batting average to .433.

Anfernee Grier extended his hitting streak to 22 games going 3 of 4 with two runs scored and his sixth home run of the season, a solo shot that bounced off the top of the Green Monster in left.

“Anfernee had another good night and Palacios has been seeing it for a while, seeing it really good and using the whole field,” Thompson said.

Blake Logan also had a big game going 3 of 4 with four RBI while Melvin Gray was 3 of 5 with one RBI. Niko Buentello, Daniel Robert and Damon Haecker had two hits apiece.

“Blake Logan had a good night,” Thompson said. “I thought that was good for him getting four RBI. We gave him the swing 3-0 pretty early in the game and he got a base hit there.

“Melvin Gray hasn’t been in the lineup for a while and that was a huge double play he had there at the end of the ball game. Him contributing three hits hopefully helps him.”

In his first career start, Ben Braymer (2-2) earned the win holding ASU hitless in 5.2 innings. He walked two and struck out four on 72 pitches. Gordon Cardenas closed out the final 3.1 innings holding ASU to two hits to earn Auburn’s first save of the season.

“(Starting) was different at first but at the end of the day it’s the same thing, whenever I take the mound my job is to challenge hitters and let my defense work behind me,” Braymer said. “We were able to do that tonight, both me and Gordon.”

The win improves Auburn to 11-10 overall while the Hornets fall to 13-10.

Auburn returns to SEC action this weekend at Arkansas. Game times for the series are 6:35 p.m. CT Friday, 6:05 p.m. Saturday and 1:05 p.m. Sunday. All three game will be available on SECN+ and WatchESPN.