RALEIGH, N.C. — Freshman orientation to NCAA regional play went flawlessly for Auburn.
The Tigers got a pair of home runs and a six-inning victory on the mound from first-year players to advanceinto the winners bracket with a 13-4win over Northeastern on Friday afternoon in the NCAA Raleigh Regional.
Auburn will play Army (36-22)in a winners bracket game at 6 p.m. Saturday after the fourth-seeded Black Knights upset host N.C. State 5-1 on Friday night. The victory for Army was its first in an NCAA regional opening round game.
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Edouard Julien got Auburn on the scoreboard early by taking advantage of the short left field porch at North Carolina State’s Doak Field as the Quebec City native poked a ball deep over the advertisem*nts above the 320-foot sign on the wall. Julien’s team-leading 16 home runs are the most by an Auburn player since 2010 and the most by an Auburn freshman since 1998. Of Julien's 16 homers, 11 have been three-run blasts or grand slams.
"It was huge," Julien said following the win. "(Coach) Butch (Thompson) always talks about that, to win the first inning, and it’s a big part of our year to always win the first inning. I think that’s our goal every game, to go out strong, win the first inning and put a run on the board, so it was big for me and the team.”
Steven Williams, who was 10-for-67 since April 24, ended Friday with four hit, including a three-run home run deep over the right-field wall in the fourth inning to make it 7-2.
"They’ve had some adversity in their at-bats where they’re like I’m (going to) figure this thing out," Thompson said about his power-hitting freshmen. "I think our league turns you inside out so much that if you can hang in there, you can maintain in yourself. If confidence comes from skill acquisition then they’ve acquired skill this year.”
The 12 runs by Auburn (40-21) were its most in NCAA Tournament play since 2010 and included 17 hits off five pitchers.
Northeastern (36-20), one of the last four at-large selections to the 64-team NCAA Tournament field,elected to give its ace right-hander Sean Mellen an extra day of rest. The Huskies will likely have to use him Saturday afternoon in the losers bracket to avoid going 0-2 in its first NCAA regional since 2003.
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Auburn’s offense, which has been inconsistent in the final month of the season especially early in games, had each of its nine starters reach base by the sixth inning. Auburn pounded Northeastern starting pitcher Tyler Brown (8-4) for seven earned runs in five innings on March 10 and the fourth-year junior struggled to miss Auburn bats again. He was lifted following his surrender of six runs and getting just 10 outs.
“It means a lot for them to stick with me right there," Williams said. "Lately, I’ve really been struggling, just pulling off a lot of balls. I looked at some at-bats from earlier in the year, and I really just worked the left side primarily. (Auburn hitting coach) Gabe Gross, the past few days, have been in the cage working on getting back to the left side and focusing on the left side of the field."
Tanner Burns made the most of his NCAA Tournament debut. The freshman All-America selection allowed two earned runs over six innings in a 96-pitch effort in a brutal 95-degree day. Burns (7-4) wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning and, despite not having swing-and-miss stuff,managed his way through a quality start.
"I knew the whole key was getting out of the first inning," Thompson said. "Once he accomplished that mission, I thought he kept battling. He just willed it and I thought Brett Wright, his catcher, did a good job to continue to work with him and Coach (Steve) Smith continued to get Tanner settled into the ballgame.”
Auburn has won its opening game of an NCAA regional in five of its last six opportunities and will now likely start ace Casey Mize (9-5, 3.07) just days before he’s expected to be the top overall pick by the Detroit Tigers in the 2018 baseball draft, which begins Monday night.
