PENSACOLA, Fla. — On Saturday, the Auburn Tigers and Florida State Seminoles battled in an exhibition matchup at Blue Wahoo Stadium. This is the usual home of the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, a minor league affiliate of the Miami Marlins.
It is the first time Blue Wahoo Stadium has hosted a major fall exhibition between two college baseball teams. Florida State and Auburn fans packed out the stadium, filling it to capacity for a sellout.
Auburn won both games over Florida State. They took the first game 4-1 over the Seminoles and then won the second game 9-5. Here are the biggest takeaways for both teams during the exhibition outing between Auburn and Florida State.
Auburn Tigers
Cade Fisher was given the go-ahead by head coach Butch Thompson to start against the Seminoles. During the first game, he went 1.2 innings, giving up just one hit and two strikeouts over that stretch. Fisher also had a hot start to his outing, with the first 0.2 innings of work done on four pitches.
Yes, the start was brief due to the nature of Auburn playing in an exhibition game. However, the Tigers must love what they saw from their headlining transfer portal pickup in Pensacola. The 2023 Freshman All-American and former Florida Gator showed how he can be the ace within the pitching staff.
Tons of big-time moments for Chris Rembert happened today. This was special because he did it in his hometown of Pensacola. According to Perfect Game, he was a top 20 player and top five shortstop out of Florida in the 2024 class while playing for Catholic High School.
In the first game, the freshman left fielder had an RBI double, which scored Ike Irish from second. Later that inning, he got to third on a sac fly and then stole home on a wild pitch, scoring a run. He was also able to draw a walk during the game.
In the second game, he got another double and scored off a Florida State error to get Auburn on the board. Later, when the Tigers were tied 2-2 with the Seminoles in the second, he had a bases-clearing triple to give Auburn a 5-2 lead.
Auburn was seemingly in control for most of their 4-1 win in the first game. This was due to building their lead up early, and great pitching kept Florida State down until the 4th inning.
However, in game two, this was not the case. The Seminoles got two runs early and took a 2-1 lead after the 1st inning. Enter the top of the 2nd inning, and Auburn’s lineup puts up seven runs, taking an 8-2 lead. This was thanks to a bases-clearing triple from Rembert, two hits in the inning from Jett Johnston, and RBI hits from Eric Guevara, Deric Fabian, and D’Marion Terrell.
There were even slight scoring spurts from the Tigers in the first game. Irish hit a double, followed by Rembert hitting a double and then a wild pitch that scored another run.
In short, this Auburn lineup can get hot quickly, and it is something to watch throughout the rest of fall baseball and into next season.
Florida State Seminoles
Highly regarded freshman Myles Bailey looked comfortable during some of his first college action against Auburn. In the first game, he recorded a hit and drew a walk. The most impressive part of his performance was his ability to cover ground around first base. He scooped multiple balls in the dirt thrown to first to record needed outs.
The second game saw him hit a RBI double to give the Seminoles a 2-1 lead.
Bailey made a statement on Saturday on becoming the first baseman in Tallahassee in 2025. He has the frame and size to be a big-time bat as well.
The center fielder was called to lead off the lineup in game two by head coach Link Jarrett. It was easy to see why. He immediately ripped a base hit and was looking to round to second with authority. Later in the inning, right fielder Braydon Plain shot a double into left-center. Williams scored from second with ease due to his top-notch speed.
He later tacked on an RBI knock at the bottom in the fourth for his second hit of the game.
Williams was a talented prospect out of Northwest Florida State College with a .370+ batting average and 29 stolen bases. That high stolen base count combined with an on-base percentage of .473 can be a dangerous combination.
Jarrett decided not to let Arnold go today in both games. Nonetheless, Seminole fans got to see a healthy lump sum of pitchers. However, the pitching came with mixed results at best. The first game had some good moments out of the Seminole staff. Evan Chrest came in early and had a quick 2nd inning that included just one hit and an inning-ending double play.
Later in the first game, Jacob Marlowe had a “1-2-3″ in the fourth. Stretches of play like these two kept Auburn’s offenses tame enough to put Florida State within striking distance for most of the first game.
However, the Seminoles’ pitching in the second game went off the rails. Auburn scored nine runs on 13 hits during the entire game and left Florida State in the dust during the second inning, which included seven runs for the Tigers. This was partly due to some lackadaisical appearances from Nick Greaney and Hudson Rowan.
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