The Auburn baseball team captured its fourth win of the season after an early explosion of runs put the Tigers out of reach of Alabama A&M, 7-3.
After a disappointing 3-4 start, the Tigers wasted no time in getting on the board against the Hornets, getting six hits and scoring five runs.
Freshman Anfernee Grier was pleased with the quick start.
"We got to play our game like we wanted to for the rest of the game," said Grier. "(The win) was really big and it takes a lot of pressure off of us."
A former standout from T.R. Miller High School in Brewton and pitcher for Team USA's U-18 team, freshman pitcher Kevin Davis, got the win in his first start of his career after giving up only two hits and two runs.
In the fourth inning, Auburn distanced themselves with a pair of RBI doubles by Ebert and freshman Anfernee Grier to give the Tigers a 7-2 lead.
While the Tigers would get 11 hits and seven runs through four, they would go hitless for the remainder of the game.
The lackluster finish would usually be a concern, but Auburn head coach Sunny Golloway wasn't too upset, because the early offensive explosion.
"You gotta keep your foot on the gas and we have to learn from the game, but I'm not going to be hard on our guys for that because they jumped out to a big lead and took pressure off of our pitcher," Golloway said. "I said in the pregame that we needed some hits and our guys came out and got those for us."
Redshirt sophomore Justin Camp took the mound in the fourth, keeping Alabama A&M without scoring until he was replaced by junior Robby Clements in the seventh inning.
Junior Jacob Milliman took the mound for the Tigers to start the eighth inning, but after giving up a sacrifice run to the Hornets was pulled for senior Wade who finished the inning without giving up a run.
Alabama A&M scored on a fielder's choice in the eighth inning, reducing the deficit to 7-3.
To close the game, the Tigers sent junior Trey Cochran-Gill to the mound, where Cochran-Gill struck out the side to clinch the win for the Tigers.
Golloway was thrilled with Cochran-Gill's performance, and pointed out that Cochran-Gill had proven the naysayers wrong.
"(They say) he can't strike anyone out as a closer, but you look at what he did tonight and I don't care who is at the plate, he threw some really tough pitches," Golloway said.
The Tigers continued to be aggressive on the base paths, with two stolen bases by senior Dan Glevenyak and senior Ryan Tella on five attempts. The Tigers had stolen 14 bases in the first seven games, a number which took last year's team 22 games to earn.
The Tigers next face Presbyterian at Plainsman Park on Friday at 6 p.m.
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