PREP BASEBALL: Auburn High gets past Prattville, falls to Satsuma

With all the dangerous bats in Auburn High’s lineup — most of them held over from last year’s state championship run — it’s usually just a matter of time before they start finding holes.

After Prattville held the Tigers to two base runners in the first three innings Saturday, they put 10 on and plated half of them in the final three for a 5-3 win over the Lions.

Fifth-ranked Auburn (14-5) lost to Satsuma, 14-6, earlier in the day at Sam Welborn Field, the second time the Tigers have lost to the Gators this year.

The Tigers hit the ball hard against Prattville early, but always right at the Lions’ fielders.

In the final three innings, Auburn started finding a little bit of karmic retribution.

“The first three innings we hit the ball hard,” Tigers coach Matt Cimo said. “Then we had a couple swinging bunts, a couple duck farts out to right field, not hit very hard but just falling in the right spot.

“It all equals out.”

Dalton Edwards didn’t need much help beginning the onslaught, as he ripped a 3-2 fastball well over the wall in center to give Auburn a 1-0 lead in the fourth.

An RBI double from Patrick Carroll, a wild pitch that brought Carroll around to score and a Kyler Deese RBI single extended the Tigers’ lead to 4-0 on six hits in the fifth, then a Carroll single scored Trey Gregg for Auburn’s final run in the seventh.

The final four Tigers hitters were 6-for-11 on the game, including 4-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

“Pitchers can not relax with the bottom half of our lineup,” Cimo said. “They are as good as our upper half.”

Prattville, meanwhile, found base runners plentiful, but couldn’t cash them in against Auburn starter Drew Sikes.

Before a Jordan Freeman two-run shot in the seventh, the Lions were 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position, stranding 10.

Sikes gave up two runs on nine scattered hits over 6 1/3 innings, striking out six against one walk.

“He was keeping those hitters off-balance,” Cimo said. “He got some big strikeouts and kept himself in the ballgame.”

Reliever Spencer Jones gave up a Nate Chambliss home run and a single to make things interesting in the seventh, but Jones got the potential tying run to ground out for the save.

Carroll was 3-for-3 with two RBI for the Tigers, James Ponder was 2-for-3 with a run, Jackson Norman had a hit and a run, Grant Massey doubled and Tanner Cimo singled. Cory Lee went 3-for-4 with two doubles in the loss for Prattville.

Massey (three-run), Edwards (solo) and Gregg (solo) all homered in the loss to Satsuma, and Norman, Cimo, Ben Goolsby and Todd Thompson added singles.

The Tigers will run a gauntlet this week, traveling to Stanhope Elmore for an area game Tuesday, hosting No. 6 Hoover in a Wednesday doubleheader, hosting Stanhope in a doubleheader Friday and traveling to rival Opelika on Saturday.

“We know Hoover’s good. They have 4,000 students, they better be good,” Matt Cimo said. “But we’ve got to concentrate on Stanhope and getting to the playoffs.”

dmorrison@oanow.com | 737-2568