Baseball team takes 2 of 3 from Kentucky
Freshmen outfielder Trent Mummey: hits a single off Kentucky’s Scott Green. Mummey scored on a Bianucci single in the fourth inning. Kyle Cooper / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR
Auburn went 2-1 to beat No. 2 Kentucky in a series last weekend at Plainsman Park.
Auburn came out fighting to win the first two games. Sunday, however, Kentucky pulled out the win and stopped Auburn from getting its first series shutout since 2003.
Kentucky (20-2, 4-2 SEC) quickly took the lead in Sunday’s game, scoring seven runs in the first four innings. In the top of the seventh, Kentucky led Auburn 9-2.
Auburn wasn’t going to go down without a fight and scored five runs in the seventh and one in the eighth, holding Kentucky to zero.
Justin Hargett’s (1-for-5) and Hunter Morris (3-for-5, 2 R) started Auburn’s comeback with singles followed by Brian Fletcher’s (3-for-4, R, 4 RBI) first career home run.
Matt Hall kept the momentum going with a triple, bringing the score to 9-7.
“We battled our butts off to get back,” Hall said. “It just didn’t happen.”
Hall said they started off slowly, but had the ability to come back.
“This shows what type of offense, what type of team we have, to come back from that deficit,” Hall said.
Head coach Tom Slater said the team thought it was going to win the whole time.
“They really believed in themselves,” Slater said.
Even though Auburn lost Sunday, the team won the series.
“I loved our energy,” Slater said. “I loved the way we played.”
Auburn shut out Kentucky Friday ending the Wildcats’ 19-game winning streak, the longest in the nation.
Pitchers Grant Dayton, Evan Crawford and Bryan Woodall stopped the Wildcats’ offense, which is the highest scoring in the SEC.
On offense, Mike Bianucci was 3-for-4 for Auburn, hitting a single allowing Trent Mummey to put Auburn on the board. Matt Hall put Auburn
ahead 2-0 with a double in the fourth.
Saturday, Auburn beat Kentucky 7-5 to clench the series.
“This is huge for us,” Hall said.
Cory Luckie led the Auburn defense pitching eight innings and achieved his first SEC win, while Joseph Sanders and Hunter Morris led offense to score the Tigers’ seven runs.
Slater and Hall said they think this series win predicts a bright future for Auburn baseball.
“We like our club,” Slater said. “We like the way we played this weekend.”
This series followed a 6-4 victory last Tuesday over Troy and a 6-2 loss last Sunday to Florida.
The Tigers play Tennessee this weekend at Plainsman Park.
The Saturday afternoon game, set to begin at 3 p.m., will be televised by CSS.