AU baseball prepares for season with friendly against Erskine
By Joshua Picklesimer | Sports writer
With the regular season for Augusta University baseball right around the corner, the Jaguars got the opportunity to get some reps in on Saturday, Jan. 28, in an exhibition against Erskine College.
The Flying Fleet won 8-5 at Jaguar Field, as the the teams played two six-inning scrimmages.
“We pitched 12 different pitchers so that everybody could get their feet wet,” said AU Coach Chris Howell.
Getting in a 12-inning day helped both teams out as they prepare for the season to open this coming weekend—and since Erskine will play at AU on Feb. 8 in the Jaguars’ fourth regular-season game, both teams got an early scouting report on each other.
Both Augusta and Erskine pitchers had scoreless starts with two innings of no-hit baseball.
The third inning is where things began to get rocky. Erskine broke the tie in the third with back-to-back walks and a home run, putting them up 3-0.
The Jaguars in third inning threatened with two runners on but had nothing to show for it after two fly outs to the outfield.
Erskine added to its lead with two more runs in the fifth inning on a leadoff triple and RBI single and double to put the Flying Fleet ahead 5-0.
The story of the first six innings was Erskine’s Joel Alegre, who pitched six innings and allowed no runs and only three hits. Alegre was efficient throughout the game, and few Jaguars got on base.
The second six-inning scrimmage kicked off in a very similar way as the first inning had very little action.
In the top of the eighth, AU’s pitcher gave up a double and a walk. A run then came into score on back-to-back passed balls, making it 6-0. Erskine came back in the ninth and did the same thing again, scoring a run on a sacrifice fly to center, making it 7-0 going into the bottom of the ninth.
In the bottom of the ninth, Jaguar third baseman Parker Ingram went deep to left field with a runner aboard to cut the Erskine lead to 7-2.
AU began to rally in the later innings, with the Jags scoring two more runs in the 10th based on a leadoff single, a RBI triple and a groundout to score one more run. And AU added a run late for the final three-run difference.
In addition to Ingram’s big day for AU, Koby Ayala had three hits for the Jaguars.
AU will open the regular season on Friday, Feb. 3, at West Georgia.
“West Georgia likes to spin it,” Howell said. “We will put an emphasis on hitting the curveball this week in practice.”
Howell welcomes 20 new players to the team this season, including nine freshmen.
Kelly’s rotation for the opening series this weekend will be senior right-hander Mason Bernard on Friday, followed by senior left-hander Britt Kelly and freshman right-hander J.R. Fordham on Saturday.
Contact Joshua Picklesimer at jpicklesimer@augusta.edu.
AU’s Parker Ingram blasts a home run during the Jaguars’ preseason exhibition game with Erskine. At the top of the page, Cody Shieder fires at the Flying Fleet during Saturday’s 12-inning friendly. (photos by Shelbie Summerlin)
