Auburn baseball fell victim to another long ball by one of the NCAA’s top power hitters, Drew Burress, early in Tuesday’s game with Georgia Tech.
However, Burress’ 21st home run of the season would only be a minor storyline as the Tigers managed to slide out of the flats with a 7-2 win over the Yellow Jackets on Tuesday at Ross Chandler Stadium in Atlanta.
Following his 1st inning home run, Burress recorded his second, and ultimately final, run of the game on a single in the 3rd inning to score Vahn Lackey and extend Georgia Tech’s lead to 2-0. Auburn went on to score seven unanswered runs to secure the win.
Auburn’s scoring surge began in the 4th inning when Cade Belyeu hit a sacrifice fly deep enough to score Ike Irish to cut the deficit to 2-1. A pair of long balls in the 5th inning by Eric Guevara and Cooper Weiss and a fielding error allowed Auburn to jump ahead, 4-2.
Belyeu struck again in the 9th inning. His three-run blast off of Georgia Tech’s Mason Patel would be the final blow and would lift Auburn to the 7-2 victory.
Auburn’s ability to overcome early adversity played a role in the win, but it’s defensive performance can not go unnoticed. Tiger outfielders Chris Stanfield and Cade Belyeu robbed Georgia Tech of a pair of two-run home runs that could have ultimately changed the tone of the game. Stanfield took a two-run homer away from Mike Becchetti in the 1st inning, and would later throw out Drew Burress at home in the 3rd inning. Both plays, if successful, would have given the Yellow Jackets a 3-0 lead.
Not only did Belyeu score the final runs of the game, but he took away a two-run home run away from Georgia Tech’s Vahn Lackey in the bottom of the 9th to preserve the lead.
Ben Schorr recorded the win on the mound for Auburn by providing two innings of relief and allowing one hit. Christian Herberholz closed out the game by striking out two batters over the final two innings. In between Schorr and Herberholz’s outings, Cameron Keshock struck out four batters while walking one batter and allowing a hit in two innings of work.
Auburn baseball will continue its SEC schedule this weekend by facing Missouri on the road. The opening game of the series begins Friday at 6 p.m. CT.
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Baseball | Auburn Wire…