Auburn baseball welcomed fans back into Plainsman Park for game one of its weekend series with Holy Cross.
Drawing in a ballpark record for crowd attendance, Auburn defeated Holy Cross 4-1 to take a 1-0 series lead.
After a scoreless first inning, the Tigers got things started in the second with an Eric Snow double that sent two runners’ home for RBIs.
Tigers starting pitcher Cade Fisher did not allow a hit in his three innings pitched. He struck five of the 12 batters he faced. Pitcher Cam Tilly got the nod to takeover at the top of the fourth inning.
“We been practicing on just getting on,” Eric Snow said.
Holy Cross got on the board in Tilly’s first inning on the mound with an RBI from Jimmy King.
After losing his mother to a battle with cancer this morning, Auburn centerfielder Cade Belyeu hit the first home run of the game and season for the Tigers; extending the lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Belyeu added an RBI to his stat line running in the first score for the Tigers in the second inning.
“That was best thing I ever seen in baseball,” Snow said postgame when talking about Belyeu.
Auburn coach Butch Thompson said postgame that he got a call from Belyeu at 7:16 Friday morning giving him the news about his mother.
“Cade Belyeu called me and said his mom would have wanted him to play,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “His dad agreed, and it was one of those things that affected the entire team.”
“This was one of those bigger than the game moments. From the ovation from the crowd, they knew what was going on and it was just special.”
In the seventh inning pitcher Carson Myers took over for Tilly after 2.2 innings pitched. Tilly gave up just one hit in the 10 batters he faced.
Deric Fabian hit a dagger triple in the bottom of the eighth inning sending Eric Guevara home for the RBI. Myers closed out the night with three strikeouts as Auburn moves to 10-0 in home openers under Thompson.
Game two of the series will continue Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 2:00 p.m.