Kendrick K’s eight in relief as Tigers top Tide

Auburn football coach Gus Malzahn throws out the first pitch of Tuesday’s MAX Capital City Classic in Montgomery
Credit: Todd Van Emst

MONTGOMERY — It was fitting for Auburn football coach Gus Malzahn to throw out the ceremonial first pitch of last night’s MAX Capital City Classic between Auburn and Alabama, as the temperature was more cut out for the gridiron than baseball diamond.

Steady winds made for an even cooler feel and poor fielding plagued both teams as the rivals combined to make six errors and both starting pitchers had short outings after losing the strike zone. Conner Kendrick seemed immune to the conditions though, coming in for six scoreless innings for Auburn, striking out eight while allowing no hits and just one walk to lock down a 4-3 win for the Tigers over the Crimson Tide before a hearty crowd of 6,911 at Riverwalk Stadium Tuesday night.

“I felt like I had command of more than one pitch tonight. I could throw them at different situations,” said Kendrick, who named game MVP. He threw 102 pitches with 67 strikes.

Auburn (9-3) added two insurance runs in the ninth thanks to Alabama’s third error of the game, a dropped ball by right fielder Ben Moore which allowed Dan Glevenyak to reach base. After walks to Damek Tomscha and Cullen Wacker, Garrett Cooper hit a two-run single to left to make it 6-3.

“I was looking for something to hit and he left a hanging slider up with two strikes,” Cooper said. “All I tried to do was put the bat on the ball. Those insurance runs were huge for Conner and he pitched a hell of a game.”

Auburn scored three runs in the top of fifth to regain the lead thanks to two Alabama errors. Cooper reached on an error by Mikey White and Ryan Tella scored the tying run before Blake Austin reached on an error by Kenny Roberts which allowed Cooper to score and make it 4-3 Auburn.

Both starting pitchers had a hard time staying in the strike zone as Alabama’s Taylor Guilbeau walked five though he allowed only one run and hits in four innings of work. Guilbeau threw just 37 strikes in 82 pitches.

Tucker Hawley came in for the fifth and allowed three runs, one earned, on two hits and a walk in defeat for the Crimson Tide (8-4).

Tigers coach John Pawlowski felt the brisk temperature were not the only element which caused the poor fielding from both squads.

“I thought the balls took some funny hops,” Pawlowski said. “There’s some loose sand out there a little bit too. Both teams struggled. We got to get better, we know we do and we were very fortunate that we can overcome some of those mistakes.”