AUBURN, Ala. – No. 4 Auburn advanced to Sunday’s NCAA regional final with a blockbuster 8-5 win over Stetson in 3-D: doubles, defense and Dutton.
Auburn belted eight doubles and played stellar defense behind starting pitcher Samuel Dutton to defeat the Hatters in front of 7,434, a Plainsman Park attendance record for the second consecutive night.
“An amazing college baseball game,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “Great effort, another unbelievable crowd, a great atmosphere for postseason. That’s what it’s supposed to be like. Thankful to win that one. Both nights have been a grind. All you can do is just come out and play hard.”
The visiting team in Saturday’s winner’s bracket matchup, Auburn (40-18) scored a pair of runs in each of the second and third innings.
Cooper McMurray started Auburn’s doubles display with the first of his three two-baggers after falling behind 0-2 to lead off the top of the second. Eric Snow scored McMurray with an RBI double down the left-field line, then scored on Bub Terrell’s double for a 2-0 Auburn lead.
The Tigers doubled their lead in the third inning when Eric Guevara singled and scored on Ike Irish’s double. McMurray followed with his second double to bring home Irish, making it a 4-0 lead.
Stetson scored a run in the bottom of the third before adding two more in the fourth to trim Auburn’s lead to 4-3. Irish prevented the Hatters from a bigger fourth inning by throwing out a Stetson runner at home after backing up diving center fielder Bristol Carter.
“They scored a run and (Irish) chopped a runner down on one of the best throws you’re going to see on any field, any level,” Thompson said. “That’s an amazing college baseball game played at a high level.”
Auburn added to its lead in the fifth inning when McMurray hit his third double and scored on Snow’s second to put the Tigers on top 5-3.
Dutton induced a 5-4-3 double play in the bottom of the fifth for the first two outs before Deric Fabian ended the inning with a fine play at shortstop.
“I thought it propelled (Dutton) to get deeper in the ballgame in the fifth inning when we got a 5-4-3 double play,” Thompson said. “I thought that was huge because they’re so scrappy. Samuel Dutton fought his guts out.”
Dutton recorded his third strikeout to retire the Hatters in order in the bottom of the sixth inning. Pitching on his father’s birthday, Dutton (7-3) earned the victory, gritting through 6.2 innings while allowing five earned runs.
“Getting back to who am I as a pitcher and focusing on my plan,” Dutton said. “With the fans getting into it, it made everything that much more special to go out there against a really good team. That was a huge win for us.”
Auburn added two crucial insurance runs with two outs in the top of the seventh on Terrell’s second double coming with two outs and two strikes. Snow and McMurray scored on the ball off the top of the wall to give Auburn a 7-3 lead.
“It was great,” said Terrell, who led the Tigers with three RBI. “I always like to fire my guys up. I’ve been locked in since day one of regionals.”
After Stetson (41-21) scored a run in the seventh, Ryan Hetzler relieved Dutton with one out, allowing an inherited runner to score to trim the Tigers’ lead to 7-5.
With it remaining a two-run game two innings later, Irish led off the ninth with his 17th home run of the season to give Auburn a three-run lead.
Hetzler earned his eighth save by scattering five hits and stranding three runners in the seventh and two in the eighth before striking out two in the bottom of the ninth. He ended the game with a swinging strikeout that led to one final roar from the home crowd.
With a Super Regional trip on the line, Auburn will play Sunday at 6 p.m. CT against the winner of the 2 p.m. CT elimination game between Stetson and NC State.
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer