A night after losing a pitching duel between its ace Casey Mize and Florida star Brady Singer, Auburn’s bats came to life Friday night in Gainesville.
Edouard Julien and Luke Jarvis each launched home runs as the Tigers’ offense erupted in a 11-5 victory over No. 1 Florida.
“Great bounce back,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “We played our hearts out last night in two of three phases — pitching and defense. We played a great ballgame on the road against the No. 1 team in the country and tonight our offense was pretty relentless.”
The Tigers, which improved to 31-13 and 10-10 in the SEC, got off to a fast start as Julien launched a three-run shot to left-center field in the first inning off Gators’ starter Jackson Kowar.
Florida answered in the third inning on back-to-back homers by Nick Horvath and Deacon Liput on back-to-back pitches from Auburn freshman Tanner Burns.
Burns, however, would hold the high-powered Gators’ offense at bay for the majority of the night. The Decatur, Alabama, native held Florida to three runs on three hits in four innings of work. He struck out six and walked two.
Auburn would continue to pile up runs as shortstop Will Holland came through with a two-out, two-run single in the fifth inning to push Auburn’s lead to 7-2 midway through the contest.
After Florida got a run back in the bottom half of the fifth, Jarvis smacked his second big fly of the season to give the Tigers a 9-3 lead in the sixth inning.
The Gators tallied a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth to trim Auburn’s lead to four runs, but would not get any closer.
Holland and Josh Anthony each picked up a RBI double in the ninth inning to put the Gators away.
Auburn freshman closer Cody Greenhill came on and pitched the final five innings of the night to earn his third victory of the season. He allowed two runs on six hits while striking out three.
“These two freshman, Burns and Greenhill, are about as competitive as I’ve been around at this young of an age,” Thompson said. “They’ve still got to continue to refine, get more efficient.”
Anthony and Brendan Venter each had three-hit games for the Tigers, who racked up 15 hits off the second-best pitching staff in the SEC. Julien and Holland each picked up three RBI for Auburn.
“Edouard Julien really got us started with that three-run homer in the first,” Thompson said. “Jarvis wound up hitting a two-run home run in the biggest part of the ballpark. Our game ball goes to our entire offense because I thought it was relentless.”
The Tigers have now scored double-digit runs in three of their last four SEC games.
“This win was huge for us,” Holland said. “We got a lot of hits tonight, in big situations as well.”
Kowar, who fell to 7-2 on the season for Florida, allowed seven runs (five earned) on eight hits in 4.1 innings.
Horvath and Austin Langworthy each picked up three hits for the Gators, who fell to 35-10 and 15-5 in the conference, in the loss.
The rubber game of the series is set for Saturday at 1 p.m. CST. Andrew Mitchell will be on the mound for the Tigers, who will look to win their second-consecutive SEC series.
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