For the third time in a week, the Auburn baseball team had no answer to Florida's pitching staff, falling 6-1 in the opening round of the 2012 SEC Tournament Tuesday at Regions Park.
The loss places Auburn (30-27, 13-18 SEC) in the loser's bracket where it will face the loser of the Vanderbilt-Georgia game at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
"Florida didn't give us many opportunities to do a lot offensively; Give them a lot of credit on the mound," said coach John Pawlowski. "We tried to keep this thing close and Jon Luke (Jacobs) did a great job trying to keep this game in check. He pitched extremely well out there."
The Gators (41-16, 18-12 SEC) took a 2-0 lead late in the second inning with a two-out, two-RBI single by freshman Justin Shafer.
In its next at-bat, the Tigers responded. Sophomore Bobby Andrews led off the inning with a single and advanced to second after a throwing error by shortstop Nolan Fontana allowed sophomore Zach Alvord to reach first. Shafer retired two batters before Andrews scored on a sacrifice fly by senior Creede Simpson, cutting Florida's lead to one.
The score remained 2-1 until the bottom of the sixth, when the Gators offense caught fire. Brian Johnson and Daniel Pigott connected for back-to-back singles but it was Casey Turgeon's RBI double into the right center gap that increased the Gators' lead to three and ended Jacobs's night. Turgeon scored two batters later on a Sharfer RBI single off of junior right-hander Slade Smith. The three run inning put the Gators on top 5-1.
Florida added to its lead in the seventh with a two-out double by junior Mike Zunino that brought in Fontana.
Sophomore right-hander Jonathon Crawford moved to 5-2 on the year, holding the SEC's top hitting team to two hits in five innings on a career-high nine strikeouts and four walks.
Jacobs (5-4) took the loss for the Tigers, allowing six hits for five runs in 5 1/3 innings.
Auburn will be back in action Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. in an elimination game.
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