Junior Stephen Kohlscheen made his first start at Auburn (28-14, 10-8 SEC) Tuesday night as the baseball team beat Samford (23-17), 11-4, at home.
Kohlscheen pitched two scoreless innings with a single in the first inning and a second-inning walk.
Kohlscheen said it was a good day for his first start and the rest of the team performing well made his job easy.
"It's always good when you can get a start," Kohlscheen said. "Coach called me yesterday and told me I would start, and I was pumped."
Coach John Pawlowski said he felt Kohlscheen performed well in the beginning of the game and could earn the starting weekend spot.
"I thought his breaking stuff was pretty good," Pawlowski said. "He's really been working on his slider, and I thought he really threw some good ones today, so that was encouraging."
The Tigers returned to action Tuesday night after a win against Kentucky Sunday.
This was the first time Auburn had won consecutive SEC series since the 2008 season.
Auburn took a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning after a three- run home run from third-baseman Dan Gamache.
Junior Brian Fletcher finished the night 2-for-4, with an RBI that brought junior Trent Mummey home.
Mummey said he felt the team had a good strategy at the plate for the night, even though Samford threw several pitchers against the Tigers.
"We made a lot of good swings and put a lot of runs on the board," Mummey said. "The only way to get runs is to put runners on base, and we did a lot of good things on the plate."
The end of the third inning saw the Tigers up 4-0, with four runs off four hits and Samford only connecting one hit.
"Defensively, we played solid defense on the infield," Pawlowski said. "Kasey McElroy made a number of good plays out there."
Samford quickly put two runners on early in the fourth and got on the board after a hit from Bo Smith.
Michael Johnson came up to bat for Samford with runners on second and third. He reached on an error, allowing another run for the Bulldogs, bringing the score to 4-2.
Mummey hit a three-run homerun for Auburn, extending the Tiger lead 7-2.
At the end of the seventh inning, Auburn was up 10-2, scoring in every inning except two.
The eighth inning was a perfect one for the Tigers, with no runs, no hits, no errors and no one left on base.
Samford's Tripp Swann hit his second home run of the season early in the ninth, bringing another runner home to bring the score to 11-4.
Next up for the Tigers is a weekend away series against No. 7 Arkansas.
The Razorbacks are 33-8, 13-5 SEC and are coming off a losing series to the Florida Gators.
Mummey said winning Tusesday will give the team a boost going to Fayetteville.
"It's important to win the games during the week, especially these in-state teams," Mummey said. "It's a good thing going into the weekend and to build some confidence for those series."
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