The No. 24 Auburn Tigers have caught their stride, outlasting Mississippi State with an 8-2 win Sunday afternoon. The victory clinched the series for the Tigers, marking their third straight SEC series win, a first for Auburn since 2003.
"It's not the way you draw it up, but we'll take it," said coach John Pawlowski. "Those guys committed themselves to what we're trying to do today and yesterday. The thing is, it's a long journey. It's a marathon. It's a long road, but I'm just pleased with our team to see some progress. I feel like some of the young guys and the new guys are really learning how to play at this level."
Freshman pitcher Daniel Koger had another strong game on the mound, finishing the day with three strikeouts, one walk and six hits over six innings. The win, Koger's first since Feb. 25 at No. 8 Arizona, pushes the lefthander to 2-1 on the year.
"I felt good early on," Koger said. "I started to wear down a little bit, but it was a good day. I felt good and was locating well and was able to throw the inside pitch which was really big."
Solid pitching combined with an offensive explosion sparked the win that moved the Tigers to 17-11, 6-3 SEC.
"I thought our guys came out ready to play today," Pawolowski said. "We challenged our offense yesterday, and they came out and did a great job and did it again today. We had some really, really big two-out hits-We scored the majority of our runs with two outs today. You look at Danny Glevenyak and Jay Gonzalez, our nine-hole guy and our leadoff guy-They were on base seven times today. You do that and you've got a chance to be successful."
Clutch hitting was key. Auburn drove in six of its eight runs with two outs while hitting 11 of its 12 hits in two-out situations.
"[It just shows] we're fighters," said third baseman Justin Bryant. "Two-out hits are the most underrated thing in baseball because it's just a heart breaker for the other team. You get the first two outs and you're thinking you're cruising along and all of the sudden they bang a run on the board with two-outs. It's a heart breaker, so for us to be able to do that, with two-outs in big situations in games like this, it's very big for us."
In his first start in the field this season, Bryant accounted for three of Auburn's two-out hits, driving in two runs in the third that pushed the lead to four and singling in the eighth to extend the lead to 8-2.
"From the first pitch on, I really try to lock in on the outside part of the plate because that's where they tried to pitch me the whole weekend," Bryant said. "I was just trying to put the ball in play the other way and it just kind of ended up coming in a couple times and I just ended up putting a solid bat on it."
Slade Smith finished the game for the Tigers, picking up his third save of the season, allowing one hit in three innings.
Kendall Graveman (2-1) took the loss for the Bulldogs.
Auburn will resume non-conference play Tuesday at 6 p.m. against Jacksonville State at Plainsman Park.
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