Greenhill’s gutsy effort leads Tigers to 7-0 win vs. Little Rock

AUBURN, Ala. – Despite still being hampered by an injury that forced him to miss his previous start, Cody Greenhill wanted the ball and ultimately led Auburn to a 7-0 win in the series opener against Little Rock Friday night at Plainsman Park.
 
"Cody wasn't at 100%, but I gave him a whole ball bag instead of a game ball," head coach Butch Thompson said. "That's a great example when a coach doesn't have to say a word and a veteran player is saying 'I got this. I can still pitch. I can still make pitches. I can still give you five scoreless innings.'"
 
Greenhill (2-0, 1.88) earned his second win of the season, pitching 5.0 scoreless innings and allowing three hits with one walk and five strikeouts. The senior right-hander needed just 58 pitches to retire 15 batters and threw 43 strikes.
 
"It felt great," Greenhill said of his outing. "Working out this whole week, I was just trying to stay healthy and get back on the mound and give the fans another great game."
 
Greenhill passed the baton to Peyton Glavine to start the sixth, and the southpaw faced the minimum in 3.0 innings while striking out a career high five batters.
 
"It feels great being able to come in after a guy like Cody who sets such a good tempo," Glavine said. "That's kind of what you want to do when you come out of the bullpen behind him. I just did my best to keep that tempo up, fill up the zone, and let the defense make some plays behind me."
 
Following Glavine's scoreless outing, freshman Carson Swilling shut the door with a perfect ninth inning, including a strikeout. The Auburn pitching staff allowed just four baserunners in the game and threw just 106 pitches, 78 of which were strikes.  
 
Auburn (9-4) wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard as Ryan Bliss deposited the sixth pitch thrown by Little Rock (5-6) starter Aaron Funk (0-2, 5.73) over the wall in left field. Bliss' third homer of the season left the bat at 108 miles per hour and traveled nearly 430 feet.
 
Freshman two-way player Cam Hill continued to produce at the plate as he drove in his 14th run of the season in just his seventh game on a single up the middle in the second inning.
 
Steven Williams drove in a run on a single to left field in the fifth, and the Tigers took advantage of a Little Rock fielding miscue later in the inning to extend the lead. After Rankin Woley reached on a two-out error, Tyler Miller hit his team-best fourth home run of the season, a three-run shot that made it a 7-0 ballgame.
 
Miller turned in his sixth multi-hit game of the season, including his fifth in the last seven contests. Hill matched Miller with two hits in the game.
 
The Tigers and Trojans turn around for game two of the three-game series Saturday at 2 p.m.