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HOOVER — Sure, when Auburn baseball beat Texas A&M to reach its first SEC Tournament semifinal in 23 years, it notched plenty of impressive marks.
A pitcher logged his 100th strikeout this season for the program's first pair of teammates with triple-digit punch-outs since 1999. The program recorded its first shutout in SEC Tournament history. It also added to the tournament's 30-plus home run total with a pair of blasts from two true freshmen.
All impressive in their own ways, certainly, but not to be forgotten was Chase Fralick making history, the sort that resides in an echelon allowing only for a recreation of the graphic Ole Miss put out earlier this week — about being the first team in college baseball history to use the ABS (automated ball-strike system) challenge.
Fralick became the first player in college baseball to walk off a game with a strikeout via ABS challenge, finishing off a 7-0 victory against the Aggies on Friday, May 22.
RECAP, HIGHLIGHTS: Auburn baseball shuts out Texas A&M, advances to SECT semifinal
"I didn’t think it was a strike, so I'm glad he challenged it," Auburn reliever LJ Cormier said postgame. "I thought it was too low, but, man, he's learning it. I guess he had a rough first night. But I think he knows the strike zone pretty well. We used the trackman zone all fall. I feel like if anyone would know it, he would."
The walk-off overturn was Fralick's second successful challenge of the night, following an ABS strikeout to the end the eighth, and it snapped a 16-inning span in which a challenge hadn't gone Auburn's way.
"The win feels great," Fralick said, taking a beat, "but that felt good."
Fralick's head-tapping strikeout was another first in the SEC's introducing ABS to the college level at this year's conference tournament. It's come with an expanded strike zone, and it's operated with the same system used at the major-league level.
"We’re just going to evaluate the moments that feel like they need to be used and not using it with our emotions but using it straight-up,” Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said.
REQUIRED READING: How's Auburn baseball approaching ABS at SEC Tournament?
Prior to the tournament, Thompson was asked about Auburn's ABS approach in Hoover. He acknowledged it had plenty to figure out, but he spoke of one thing with certainty: "I think Chase Fralick needs to be ready to go. Seems like the catcher has a huge, huge impact."
Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at [email protected] or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter.To support Adam's work, please subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: How Chase Fralick made history for Auburn baseball vs Texas A&M
Continue reading...
A pitcher logged his 100th strikeout this season for the program's first pair of teammates with triple-digit punch-outs since 1999. The program recorded its first shutout in SEC Tournament history. It also added to the tournament's 30-plus home run total with a pair of blasts from two true freshmen.
All impressive in their own ways, certainly, but not to be forgotten was Chase Fralick making history, the sort that resides in an echelon allowing only for a recreation of the graphic Ole Miss put out earlier this week — about being the first team in college baseball history to use the ABS (automated ball-strike system) challenge.
Fralick became the first player in college baseball to walk off a game with a strikeout via ABS challenge, finishing off a 7-0 victory against the Aggies on Friday, May 22.
RECAP, HIGHLIGHTS: Auburn baseball shuts out Texas A&M, advances to SECT semifinal
"I didn’t think it was a strike, so I'm glad he challenged it," Auburn reliever LJ Cormier said postgame. "I thought it was too low, but, man, he's learning it. I guess he had a rough first night. But I think he knows the strike zone pretty well. We used the trackman zone all fall. I feel like if anyone would know it, he would."
The walk-off overturn was Fralick's second successful challenge of the night, following an ABS strikeout to the end the eighth, and it snapped a 16-inning span in which a challenge hadn't gone Auburn's way.
"The win feels great," Fralick said, taking a beat, "but that felt good."
Fralick's head-tapping strikeout was another first in the SEC's introducing ABS to the college level at this year's conference tournament. It's come with an expanded strike zone, and it's operated with the same system used at the major-league level.
"We’re just going to evaluate the moments that feel like they need to be used and not using it with our emotions but using it straight-up,” Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said.
REQUIRED READING: How's Auburn baseball approaching ABS at SEC Tournament?
Prior to the tournament, Thompson was asked about Auburn's ABS approach in Hoover. He acknowledged it had plenty to figure out, but he spoke of one thing with certainty: "I think Chase Fralick needs to be ready to go. Seems like the catcher has a huge, huge impact."
Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at [email protected] or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter.To support Adam's work, please subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: How Chase Fralick made history for Auburn baseball vs Texas A&M
Continue reading...
