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AUBURN, Ala. – After Cam Tilly and Jett Johnston turned in 5.0 scoreless and hitless innings in relief, Ike Irish hit a walk-off single in the ninth to lead No. 25 Auburn to a 7-6 win against No. 24 Troy Tuesday night at Plainsman Park.
“Tonight was one of those where I thought they competed their hearts out,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “If they would have come up short tonight, I think I’d have been OK with that. Better than the other two wins that we had, and they have to understand that.”
Freshman Bub Terrell started the ninth inning with a line-drive single to center field and scampered all the way around to third as the ball was misplayed in the outfield.
With the winning run 90 feet away, Troy elected to intentionally walk the next two hitters to load the bases with nobody out for Irish. The junior sent the fourth pitch he saw through the gap in left center to score Terrell and send his teammates out of the dugout and after him to celebrate in shallow right field.
“Big credit to Bub. If he doesn’t leg it out, then we’re not in that situation,” Irish said. “We’re supposed to make the game personal, so no needed extra motivation tonight for making it personal with who we were playing. It’s been a long time coming. I was finally able to get a ball elevated and drive it the other way, because that’s where I’m best at.”
Troy jumped out to a lead with six runs on nine hits in the first three innings, but Tilly and Johnston combined to strike out 11 batters in the final five frames and didn’t allow a hit while facing just one batter over the minimum.
“It’s kind of like a flow state,” Tilly said of being in the zone on the mound. “You kind of just lose track of time, lose track of everything. You’re just focused on the batter. I didn’t realize how many strikeouts I had or anything like that. I was just trying to get our offense back to the plate. We did exactly that and Jett came in after me and did the exact same thing.”
Tilly matched a career high by striking out seven straight batters following a leadoff walk and allowed the offense to chip away and eventually tie the game. Johnston then took the mound to start the eighth and picked up right where his fellow right hander left off with back-to-back strikeouts to account for two of his four in the game.
“It was a good moment,” Johnston added of his effort in his Auburn debut. “Credit to all of my teammates. I got the ball in the last two innings, but I wouldn’t have gotten the ball if all of the guys before me wouldn’t have done their jobs and set me up right. It was a great team win. Back at it again tomorrow, but it was a cool moment, for sure.”
Auburn (3-1) started the scoring with four runs in the first inning, highlighted by a three-run homer from Deric Fabian, his first of the season. However, Troy (3-1) responded with five runs on six hits in the top of the second and added another in the third to take a 6-4 lead.
After a fast start at the plate on both sides, the pitchers settled in on the mound and the two teams went scoreless until Auburn chipped away with a sacrifice fly from Lucas Steele in the fifth and tied things up with a RBI groundout from Terrell in the sixth, his first career RBI.
Jackson Sanders relieved starting pitcher Carson Myers to end the second inning and settled things down in his 2.1 innings of work. The freshman allowed one run on two hits with one walk and two strikeouts before giving way to Tilly and Johnston. The Tigers pitching staff struck out 14 batters in the game, 13 of which were by relief pitchers.
Offensively, Fabian’s first-inning homer started a 3-for-3 night for the senior shortstop, while Irish and Terrell turned in their first multi-hit games of the season. Those three accounted for seven of Auburn’s nine hits.
The Tigers’ busy stretch continues with a matchup against North Alabama (2-1) Wednesday at 4 p.m. CT.
