The Tigers’ baseball team played Ole Miss Saturday, April 18, in a double header that saw the games split with the first going to Ole Miss. The Tigers lost the first game 7-2, but won the second game 14-0.
Senior right-hander Rocky McCord started on the mound for the Tigers in the second game and went 6 2/3 innings and gave up no runs. He had only five hits allowed for the day as well.
After the game, McCord told said he felt pretty strong, but the team’s must win attitude was what won the game.
“It feels pretty good,” McCord said. “We know as a team mentally before the series even started this is a big series. We had to take at least two out of three. Coming into the game, I feel like, as a whole, we knew what we had to do and we did it.”
The Tigers got on the board quickly with a run in both the first and second innings. Junior second baseman Melvin Gray scored off a single grounder by sophomore first baseman Daniel Robert. In the second, junior Cody Nulph hit in the Tiger’s second run with a single the hit off the wall in left field. After hitting his first double, freshman Austin Murphy was the runner that Nulph brought in.
Nulph, who ended with four hits on four at-bats while scoring three runs and batting in four more, said after the game that he liked the change from the first game and the pitching.
“First game we didn’t really have very much offensive production, and to get the pitching performance that we did out of Rocky today was just unbelievable,” Nulph said.
The Tigers, with McCord keeping the Rebels off the board, moved into the fourth inning up 2-0.
Auburn scored five runs in the fourth inning with the first run score by Robert, who started the inning off with a double. Murphy added to his list of firsts with his first triple that sent in Robert.
Murphy would score off the next batter sophomore Damon Haecker’s single over the second baseman. The Tiger’s good hitting would continue as Nulph came up next and hit a double allowing Haecker to score. Two batters later, sophomore third baseman Kyler Deese hit a double sending in Nulph. Junior outfielder Jackson Burgreen, who got on base by beating a throw to first following a bunt, was the final Tiger to score in the inning. Gray got the RBI sending the team back in to the field.
The offense continued into the fifth, as the Tigers were able to add three more runs tot their total. Nulph hit his second double of the day and was able to send in both sophomore catcher Ben Craft and the pinch-hitting junior Jordan Ebert.
Burgreen got back in on the hitting as he was able to send Nulph in from second base with a single.
In the top of the seventh inning, Auburn made a pitching change to senior right-hander Jacob Milliman. There was one Rebel on first base, but Milliman got through the inning without letting him advance.
The Tigers scored four more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to push the score to 14-0. After Nulph loaded the bases with a single, the Rebel’s pitcher walked.
Burgreen allowing Ebert to score. Gray, two batters behind Burgreen, hit in runners on all bases with a double.
Sophomore lefty pitcher Izaac Yarbrough made an appearance for the Tigers in the eighth. In the ninth, Auburn made the move to junior pitcher Justin Camp who walked one batter, but was able to get three strike outs to retire the game.
The Tigers are now 25-16 with a 7-11 record in conference. The next game is scheduled for April 21 against Florida A&M in Auburn, Alabama.
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