TALLAHASSEE – Central Florida was very concerned that Auburn pitcher Keegan Thompson would be in command on the mound Friday afternoon in the NCAA Baseball Regional at Dick Howser Stadium.
The former Cullman Bearcat was.
Thompson scattered four hits in eight innings of work, striking out nine while the Auburn offense provided him run support in a 7-4 victory.
The win sends the Tigers to the winner's bracket final Saturday, meeting the winner of the Florida State-Tennessee Tech game.
Thompson was given a 2-0 lead by his teammates in the second, which he kept for the rest of the afternoon.
Central Florida got on the scoreboard with a solo homer in the bottom of the second. Thompson got out of possible trouble with a strikeout, then got into a groove, retiring 12 in a row, before he allowed a double in the sixth with two outs. Auburn was on top 3-1 at that point.
The Tigers gave Thompson a 4-1 lead to work with in the seventh and provided three more runs during the eighth for a 7-1 cushion.
Thompson got touched for a run on a couple of hits in his final inning, but was again able to keep himself from being seriously threatened by the Golden Knights with a strikeout to end the inning, the score at 7-2.
Cole Lipscomb replaced Thompson in the ninth. Lipscomb allowed a double then after a ground out and a strikeout he surrendered a home run to close the margin to 7-4.
Coach Butch Thompson kept Lipscomb in the game after a brief conference. He struck out the final batter to record a save and extend the Auburn season for at least two more games.
Thompson is now 7-4 on the season and lowered his earned run average of 2.40. The ex-Bearcat threw 119 pitches, with 79 going for strikes. He allowed one walk, that coming in the eighth.
This was a good outing for Thompson after pitching three innings last week in the SEC Tournament in Hoover. But the problem in a 4-3 win over Ole Miss on May 23 was the game went through a series of weather delays.
Thompson, nor the Tigers, had any problems with the weather on a sunny afternoon on the Florida State campus.
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