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College of Charleston 7, Auburn 6

Auburn and College of Charleston squared off in game one of the Tallahassee Regional on Friday afternoon. It was a back-and-forth affair that lasted 11 innings until College of Charleston’s Erven Roper left the yard on a walkoff home run to right field.

The Cougars sent ace Taylor Clarke to the mound to face off against Auburn, and while Clarke pitched better than the box score would suggest, it wasn’t his best effort. He still finished with seven strikeouts in seven innings while not walking a batter.

Three pitchers – Will Detwiler, Chase Henry and Carter Love – combined for four scoreless innings in relief of CofC's ace.

College of Charleston relied on it’s power all season and it carried over today by scoring four of their seven runs on solo dingers and started their run to Omaha off on a positive note.

Auburn was led by leadoff man Melvin Gray who went 2-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBI. The Tigers starter Cole Lipscomb gave his team a chance by striking out seven in 5 2/3 innings, but his defense let him down as three of the six runs Lipscomb gave up were unearned.


Notable Prospects

College of Charleston



Taylor Clarke – Clarke wasn’t as sharp as he normally is, but without having his best stuff, he showed he can battle and grind through a lineup. A lot of the balls hit against him were weakly hit, but had eyes for the holes in the defense. His fastball was 91-94 for the first five innings before being more 90-93 the rest of the way. He showed the ability to work both corners with his fastball and was able to generate very good downhill plane. His slider was an inconsistent 82-85 breaker. There were some flashes of an average pitch, but it’ more of a 40 grade for me. Clarke mixed in some 80-81 change-ups as well that kept opposing batters’ timing a bit off. Overall it was a solid three-pitch arsenal that just ran into some bad luck today.




Carl Wise – Wise is a thick and strong kid who looks a bit stiff at first, but in-game, he showed some quick feet and was more athletic than I anticipated. There was some nice range at third base, especially going to his left. He’s very aggressive in the field and it got him into trouble on a pop-up that he had no business calling for. At the plate, Wise stands tall with just a slight bend at the knees. He keep his hands high and is late getting them into hitting position at times. When he makes contact, it’s loud. The swing stays pretty level with just a bit of uppercut when attacking fastballs he’s looking to drive.


Auburn

Trey Wingenter – Wingenter only went 1/3 of an inning so it wasn’t a great look, but the long and lean frame was apparent. Coming from a high three-quarters slot and with a very quick arm, Wingenter was sitting easily 92-94 with some sink on the fastball. There is a bit of deception to his game as well. By bringing his glove up high during his release he is able to hide the ball very well and let his long arm spring the fastball up on hitters with the look of more of a mid-90s feel.

Melvin Gray – Gray is strong and showed good athleticism in the field. His hands were soft and his actions are pretty clean. At the plate, Gray showed the ability to track the ball early and let it travel deep in the zone before letting his bat speed go to work. He did a good job using his lower- half to generate some sneaky pop.


Florida State 5, Mercer 4