Auburn's Andrew Dutton Captured His 'Movie Script' Moment. How Can You Not Be Romantic About Baseball?

How can you not be romantic about baseball? This was certainly the question being asked last night in Auburn, as super-senior Andrew Dutton stepped to the plate for his first at-bat of the season. 

It's hard to write a movie script that actually ends up paying off with a dramatic ending that catches the eyes of everyone that paid to be in attendance. 

But last night at Plainsman Park in Auburn, all it took was one swing of the bat for the Tigers' crowd to lose their minds, along with the entire dugout that was watching as the scoreboard read 18-0. 

Almost one year ago, Andrew Dutton helped lead Birmingham-Southern to the Division III College World Series, ten days after the school decided it was shutting its doors for good, with the school having to make the decision to shut down for financial reasons. 

The run that Birmingham-Southern had last year tugged the heartstrings of college baseball fans all over the country, with most players participating in the last game of their collegiate career. 

One More Season For Andrew Dutton, With One At-Bat For Auburn

For Andrew Dutton, he wanted to play one more season of college baseball, and it helped that he had another year of eligibility thanks to the Covid year. So, Dutton decided to join his younger brother Sam Dutton after he transferred from LSU, so that they could spend one season together playing the game they both loved so much. 

While Sam had a much easier path to the playing field, thanks to his pitching arm, Andrew Dutton was just happy to be around college baseball for an additional year. While there wasn't enough room to put Andrew on scholarship, that didn’t seem to bother the transfer, who would become the first-base coach for the Tigers during his final season of baseball. 

But, there was always that hope of getting one at-bat for the Auburn Tigers, which brings us to Tuesday night on the Plains. As previously mentioned, Dutton was watching from the dugout as his teammates prepared for their next round of batting in the fifth inning, leading 18-0. At that moment, head coach Butch Thompson decided it was time to give Andrew his moment, so he sent him to the plate, as his teammates cheered from the dugout. 

Andrew went from coaching first base, to stepping into the batters' box for his first appearance of the season. What came next could only be described as a movie script type moment for the 5th year player. 

I mean, come on! It's hard for movie directors to put something like this together. Soon, Auburn players came rushing out of the dugout to celebrate with Andrew, including his younger brother Sam. 

Dutton Had To Make Sure He Touched First Base After Home Run

As you can tell by the pop of the crowd as the ball came off Andrew Dutton's bat, the crowd was fully embracing the Hollywood-style moment for the Birmingham-Southern transfer. 

Lost in the moment of what had just transpired, Dutton only had one thing on his mind when he watched the ball go sailing out of the park. 

"I think I took about two, three hard steps out of the box and then blacked out a little bit," Dutton said of the moment. "Worried about touching first base, mainly. The crowd going crazy was a dream come true. That's what I've been waiting for."

For Auburn head coach Butch Thompson, he knew that after all the hard work Dutton had put in this season with the Tigers, he needed to give him that chance to do something special. Even if that meant a strikeout, or a single up the middle, Thompson knew the circumstances. 

"You just can't force anything as a coach," Butch Thompson said postgame. "I told Andrew yesterday, 'Man, I'm going to do everything I can to get you an at-bat, hopefully, in the ball game.' It started with the players today. I think they would have been pretty sore at me if I hadn't gotten him in the ball game. Movie script stuff to me. That's what it's all about.

"He shows that swing in practice. It's amazing. It's movie-script stuff. Usually our guys just sit there, I think a pretty professional job on home runs. I thought they spilled out on the field, they were so happy for him. That's the good stuff. That's the good stuff that happens that we get to do. You talk about capitalizing for a moment, I told the team after he hit, there's not a more productive hitter in our program per pitch than Andrew Dutton."

And just like that, with his brother looking on from the dugout, and his teammates hoping for that special moment for Andrew, everything came together like a Hollywood ending. After joining each other for one season of playing baseball together again, Sam Dutton summed the entire night up for his family, as he watched his brother stroll around the bases. 

"Just seeing what all he's gone through, Birmingham Southern and all that, just made it that more special. It was awesome to see."

I'll ask again. How can you not be romantic about baseball?