No. 13 Auburn tops Air Force behind three more home runs
Courtesy of Auburn Athletics
AUBURN, Ala. – Behind three more homers at the plate and another strong midweek effort on the mound, No. 13 Auburn defeated Air Force 8-4 in the first ever meeting between the two programs Wednesday afternoon at Plainsman Park.
“Anytime we get to play one of these academies it’s a big deal because they give us the right to go out and play baseball and have these experiences we get to have at Auburn,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “These are some of our future leaders, and I think we’re in good hands. I got to shake hands with every player in the line after the game, just first class. They do an amazing job of representing our country. Getting to play them was an honor.”
The Tigers (10-2) homered for the 12th straight game to start the season, led by a pair of homers from Deric Fabian and a two-run shot from Cooper Weiss. The team has homered multiple times in seven of the last eight games, including five straight.
“Just sticking with my approach and having the guys on the team support me and the coaches put us in good positions,” Fabian said of what’s been working for him at the plate.
After turning in the first multi-homer game of his career and matching a season-high with three RBI, Fabian is 4-for-6 with three homers and six RBI in the last two games. It marked Fabian’s team-high fourth game this season with three RBI.
“He’s having good at-bats, and he’s driven the ball both ways,” Thompson added. “It’s been huge. The other day it was Ike (Irish) in game three, and it’s nice to have somebody keep showing up for us. Fabian has been locked in for a couple of weeks and playing good baseball.”
Conner McBride (2-0, 2.63) made his third straight midweek start and earned his second straight win Wednesday. The junior righty logged 5.0 innings for the second consecutive start and held Air Force to two runs on seven hits with no walks and four strikeouts.
“My fastball command was good, and I had my changeup and curveball,” McBride said of his outing. “I didn’t really have my slider or cutter, but we were able to get the job done. Deric and the rest of the guys played great behind me.”
Air Force (4-8) jumped out to an early lead on a solo homer from Auburn High School product Jay Thomason in the top of the first, but Auburn responded with five runs in its next two at-bats to take a 5-2 lead through three.
With a runner on third and one out, Gavin Miller singled back up the middle to get Auburn on the scoreboard, and Weiss followed with a two-run homer off the top of the scoreboard to give the Tigers the lead. The home run, which jumped off the bat at 106 miles per hour and traveled 432 feet, was Weiss’ second of the season.
Air Force scratched a run across on a two-out single in the third, but Fabian followed Cooper McMurray’s leadoff double with his first homer of the day, a two-run shot on top of the Josh Donaldson Hitting Lab in right field.
The Tigers scored for the third straight inning on a sacrifice fly from Christian Hall in the fourth, and McBride worked a 1-2-3 top of the fifth to end his day with back-to-back scoreless frames.
Fabian’s second homer of the game was a solo shot to straightaway center field to make it a 6-2 game through six.
The Falcons threatened with a run home and the bases loaded with two outs in the seventh, but Tanner Bauman entered in relief and needed just one pitch to end the threat with a flyout in foul territory down the right field line.
Ike Irish’s sacrifice fly in the seventh capped off the scoring in the contest for the Tigers, while Parker Carlson turned in his third straight scoreless inning in the last five games and Will Cannon finished his fourth game of the season.
Auburn wraps up its homestand with a three-game series vs. Austin Peay (10-2) at Plainsman Park this weekend.
