Tigers stay hot in decisive win against Florida State

On Saturday, the Tigers faced off against the Florida State Seminoles. Both teams won their first matchups of the regional. The Seminoles defeated UCLA by a score of 5-3, while the Tigers defeated Southeastern Louisiana by a score of 19-7. The teams would take the field on the winner’s side of the bracket in a contest to see which team remained undefeated in the regional.

The Tigers sent out their ace in right-handed pitcher Joseph Gonzalez. Meanwhile, the Seminoles sent out left-handed pitcher Bryce Hubbart.

Both teams went scoreless in the first frame, but that quickly changed after that. After shortstop Brody Moore was walked, center-fielder Kason Howell hit a double. With runners on second and third, left-fielder Mike Bello hit a sacrifice fly to bring across the Tigers’ first run of the game. Tigers led 1-0 after one and a half innings.

In the third inning, the Tigers’ bats struck again. A two-run home run off the bat of Brooks Carlson gave the home team an early 3-0 lead. The Seminoles scored a run off the bat of first baseman Alex Toral. Butch Thompson’s squad led after three innings by a score of 3-1.

Then, it just seemed like Auburn left off where they started in game one of their regional against Southeastern Louisiana. The Tigers put up a crooked number in the fourth inning when they plated seven runs.

Second baseman Cole Foster doubled to left-center field to plate Bello. After the Seminoles intentionally walked first baseman Sonny DiChiara, right-fielder Bobby Peirce grounded into a fielder’s choice that allowed third baseman Blake Rambusch to score.

Carlson followed that up with a two-run RBI single to extend the Tigers’ lead to 7-1. Then, Moore hit a single to center field to plate two more runs. Howell followed Moore up by hitting an RBI double. After four innings of play, the Tigers led 10-1.

In the fifth inning, Moore continued the scoring by hitting an RBI triple to score DiChiara.

Surprisingly, the scoring ceased in the sixth as…