AU baseball team opens the season with an 11-6 win over USC Beaufort

By Chris Rickerson | Sports editor

Augusta University’s baseball team racked up double-digit runs in the 11-6 opening-day win over USC Beaufort on Tuesday, Feb. 1, at Jaguar Field. 

This victory marks the Jaguars first opening-day win since 2015. 

“It’s huge,” said AU Coach Chris Howell. “I thought the guys were ready to play. Quality start by Chase Horton. You can’t beat opening day and you can’t beat getting the dub on the first one.” 

On a mild early February afternoon, the Jaguars started junior right-handed pitcher Chase Horton, who was mainly a relief pitcher last season. He would go up against USC Beaufort’s right-hander Brian Bromley. 

Lukas Coker put the Jaguars on the board first with a double to right field, bringing in Pat Galvin and putting AU ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning.

AU added another run in the bottom of the second inning after Skylor Murphy scored on error, putting the Jaguars ahead 2-0 early. 

In the top of the third inning, the Jaguar defense got its second double play of the game, helping Horton get out of a jam with no runs scored. 

The Jaguars added two more unearned runs in the third inning after Trevor Maddox reached on an error by the second baseman, bringing in Kyle LaRoche. Murphy scored on a wild pitch, adding his second run of the game and making the score 4-0. 

USC Beaufort scored its first run of the game in the top of the fifth inning on a solo home run by Kyran Russ. 

Harrison Aulds brought the Jaguars lead back to four with an RBI single, bringing in Coker and making the score 5-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning. 

Reliever Cotton Phillips replaced Horton in the top of the sixth inning. Phillips pitched two innings, only giving up one hit and had one strikeout. 

The Jaguars brought in Alex Brown, a transfer from Marietta, in the top of the eighth inning. Brown struggled, giving up 5 hits in the eighth and 3 runs, decreasing AU’s lead to 5-4. 

Javier Saenz came in for the Sand Sharks in the bottom of the eighth inning, and AU would bat around against him. Walker Sinclair added his first RBI of the game on a single, bringing in Aulds.

Coker brought another run in for the Jaguars on a single, scoring Mason Robertson. Murphy singled, bringing in Ben Markiewicz. Maddox singled, bringing in Sinclair. Aulds added his second RBI of the game with a single, scoring Murphy and increasing the Jaguars lead to 11-5. 

Brown continued to struggle in the ninth with Brock Thibod scoring off a sacrifice fly, cutting the lead to 11-6. Darius Dunn, a transfer pitcher from Savannah State University, finished the game off for the Jaguars, striking out the final batter and giving AU the five-run win. 

Coker led the Jaguars, going 4-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Aulds finished second in hits for AU, going 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Maddox led the Jaguars with 3 RBIs off one hit and Murphy led with 3 runs. 

“Murphy and Coker swung it well, beating a couple balls out, and I thought the bottom part of the order swung it really well today,” said Howell.

Morton got the win for the Jaguars, finishing with 3 strikeouts and only giving up 4 hits on 5 innings pitched. 

“It feels great to get the first one off the bat, first win and no pressure going into the weekend, but I look forward to playing Newberry on the weekend for sure,” said Horton. 

The Jaguars (1-0) will now head on the road to face Newberry in a three-game series. The first game will be Friday, Feb. 4, at 6 p.m. Saturday will be a double header with a game 1 p.m. and another at 4 p.m. 

“We just have to take care of it and continue to play defense and it starts with pitching and with our makeup, give our offense a chance to score runs and I think we can do that,” said Howell.  “We just got to keep pounding and keep playing defense and pitching.” 

The next home game is Tuesday, Feb. 8, against Anderson at 2 p.m.

 Contact Chris Rickerson at crickerson@augusta.edu.

Darrius Dunn closes out the Sand Sharks as AU gains the 11-6 victory on opening day at Jaguar Field. At the top of the page, Jags’ starter Chase Horton shows his form on an afternoon when he went five innings and allowed 4 hits to get the win. (photos by Chris Rickerson)