The Auburn Tigers took out their brooms and swept their season-opening series against the Maine Black Bears, leading to their first 4-0 starting record since 2008.
The Tigers won 3-2 on Friday, Feb. 15, 12-3 and 4-3 on Saturday's double header Feb. 16 and 8-4 on Sunday's closing game Feb. 17.
"To get a sweep here and get a little momentum, it's going to help the fans support us and it's just a spark for this team," said Jordan Ebert, infielder/outfielder. "This could turn into a really good year and it's a great way to start it off."
The game started off slowly, with Maine not scoring until the third and Auburn not scoring until the fourth.
Auburn trailed all the way into the sixth inning.
"It wasn't easy today," said Head Coach John Pawlowski. "You know, we were down 3-1 in the sixth inning and didn't have a lot of momentum going, and then we started to get a little momentum shift."
That momentum shift gained the Tigers six runs in the sixth inning.
One of the biggest plays was made by Ebert, who hit one to right center and sent two of his teammates, Cullen Wacker and Sam Gilkin, to the home plate to bring the score to 5-3 Auburn.
"I went to the plate, just try not to get too big and try to hit one out of here," Ebert said. "I try to stay to right center and then get a good pitch and try to take it all the way."
After Ebert, Dan Glevenyak and Ryan Tella both batted singles that led runners to score and the Tigers came out of the sixth inning leading 7-3.
"It says a lot about some of the leaders in that clubhouse," Pawlowski said. "They knew what the challenge was and how important this game was and fortunately for us they were able to put some runs together there in the sixth inning."
Another important component of Sunday's game was pitching.
Dillon Ortman pitched the first six innings and was relieved by Chase Williamson when the Tigers were down 2-1.
Williamson's win today was his first during his career at Auburn.
"You come in in a tight situation and your offense puts up a lot of runs for you, it means a lot out there on the mound," Williamson said. "Coming in, I felt like we had a good game plan and everyone really played ball."
In the ninth inning, Jay Wade relieved Williamson.
Wade made only three pitches, knocking out Maine's chances of winning and scoring the first save of his career.
"I think we had a very good weekend as far as the team, as far as guys working hard and knowing what's at stake," Pawlowski said. "We did a lot of positive things and we've got a lot of things to look at."
The Tigers' next game will be Friday, Feb. 17 at 6 p.m. against Middle Tennessee State University.
The game will be the first they play as part of the Auburn Baseball Tournament, in which they will also play Indiana State and College of Charleston
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