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Auburn Baseball Going Viral After First-Base Coach Hits Home Run During Game

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Samuel Kingery | Last updated May 16, 2025 6:15 PM ET

In "Moneyball" (2011), Billy Beane, played by Brad Pitt, asks the question, “How can you not be romantic about baseball?”

This quote encapsulates the unpredictable, beautiful moments that sports bring to our lives. During the Senior Day game at Plainsman Park in Auburn, Alabama, one of these feel-good stories unfolded before our eyes.

Andrew Dutton played for Birmingham-Southern last year and had spent four years with the Panthers. He was forced to transfer after the university closed its doors last May.

He went to Auburn to be a part of head coach Butch Thompson’s squad this year. All of his impact had been on the sidelines, operating as the first base coach, until Auburn's 19-1 rout of Jacksonville State on Tuesday.

Dutton was given a pinch-hit opportunity in the bottom of the fifth. With no one on base, the fifth-year graduate senior would finally get his first at-bat for the Tigers.

He worked himself into a 2-1 count. Dutton was waiting on a fastball and knew he could swing for the fences in a hitters count, and he did just that.

Dutton belted one deep into right field, and everyone knew it was over the fence as it came off the bat. The first base coach had hit a no-doubter to put the Tigers up 19-0.

The story has swept through social media, with the video of the home run being shared by not only Auburn accounts but by SEC Network, Barstool Sports, and MLB. The swing of the bat, combined with the Auburn bench's reaction, is pure electricity.

Andrew Dutton played 4 years at Birmingham-Southern, leading them to the D3 College World Series before the school closed.

This year, he's been a graduate student/first base coach at Auburn. He homered in his first at-bat of the year. ( : @ESPN) pic.twitter.com/cVBk0oNIbL
— MLB (@MLB) May 14, 2025