Auburn Downs South Alabama, 13-5, in NCAA Tournament Opener

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Auburn hit three home runs and Arnold Hughey and John Madden combined to hold off South Alabama from the mound as the Tigers defeated the Jaguars, 13-5, on Friday afternoon at Dick Howser Stadium in AU’s 2005 NCAA Tournament opener.

“I am very proud of this ball club and the approaches we took at the plate,” AU Coach Tom Slater said. “Our pitchers did a good job of filling up the zone. The game was well-played defensively and offensively by our guys as we really did a good job of answering and pressuring South Alabama all game long.”

Jeff Boutwell (2-for-2, 2 R, RBI) started the Auburn scoring in the bottom of the second as he put one over the fence in left while Clete Thomas (2-for-5, 2 R, 2 RBI) and Karl Amonite (2-for-4, BB, 2 R, 2 RBI) each stroked two-run home runs over the fence in right-center in the bottom of the third, the third time this season that Auburn has hit two home runs in an inning, as the Tigers opened up a 7-1 lead after three full innings.

Auburn’s put six on the board in the bottom of the third as 10 Tigers came to bat in the inning. Bruce Edwards (2-for-5, R, 2 RBI) reached on a fielding error and stole second before racing home on Tyler Johnstone’s RBI single. Johnstone (2-for-5, R, RBI) touched home on Thomas’s ninth round-tripper of the season. Amonite added to the lead when his 11th four-bagger of the season scored Josh Bell (2-for-5, 2 R) from first. Auburn’s final run of the inning came as Russell Dixon (2-for-3, 2 RBI) drew a walk and scored from second on Josh Donaldson’s single.

Hughey threw 70 pitches in 5 1/3 innings of work, running his record to 8-4 on the season. The senior allowed four runs on six hits, striking out three while walking two.

Madden, who entered in the sixth, pitched three innings and surrendered just a run on four hits with five strikeouts. Three of his strikeouts came in the eighth when he struck out the side.

The Tigers stroked 17 hits in the game with nine out of 10 starters getting at least two hits. 

South Alabama’s P.J. Walters took the loss to fall to 10-7 on the season.

The Tigers will face the winner of tonight’s Florida State-Army match-up in a winner’s bracket game at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday.

AUBURN NOTES
The Tigers improved to 15-7 all-time in Tallahassee in regional action and 35-25 all-time in NCAA Regional play … Auburn’s three home runs as a team were its most in a regional game since hitting three against North Carolina State in the 1999 Auburn Regional opener … Auburn has hit seven home runs as a team in its last two games … The Tigers hit a season-high four homers against Alabama on May 22 and three in today’s game … The six-run third inning were the most runs scored by Auburn in an NCAA Regional game since scoring seven in the sixth inning of a 16-10 loss to Florida State on May 24, 1998 in Tallahassee … Auburn’s 13 runs were its most since scoring 18 in the season opener against Hofstra … The win was Auburn’s first win in the month of June since a 10-1 win over Rice on June 1, 1997 at the 1997 College World Series … It’s the Tigers’ latest win by date since 1967 when they defeated Clemson on June 5 at the NCAA District 3 Regional … Auburn won five postseason games in the month of June in 1967 (June 2, 3, 5, 12, 14) … Karl Amonite and Clete Thomas have both homered in back-to-back games … Amonite has three homers in his last two games … Reliever John Madden tied the school record for appearances in a single-season with 42, tying Gregg Olson who had 42 appearances in 1987 … Starting pitcher Arnold Hughey moved into fifth place on the school’s all-time innings pitched list with 345.1, passing Mark Chapman (340.0, 1984-87) … With three strikeouts in today’s game, Arnold Hughey moved into fifth place on the Auburn career list with 272 … Hughey passed former Tigers Chris Bootcheck (270) and Gregg Olson (271) … Hughey’s win was his first in three career NCAA Regional starts.