Auburn took the series at Tennessee in a 4-2 win Saturday under the guidance of pitcher Keegan Thompson, who improved to 5-0 on the season.
Thompson allowed just one earned run in his first SEC start away from home to keep his winning streak going. The Auburn offense spread a few runs around in support of Thompson, whose win was saved by closer Terrance Dedrick.
The freshman needed only nine pitches to shut down Tennessee in the first inning.
In the top of the second Damon Haecker hit a two-out RBI single to score Ryan Tella for Auburn's first run of the day.
In the bottom of the second inning Thompson only needed eight pitches to end the inning and followed up in the third with another 1-2-3 inning.
With one out in the top of the fourth Blake Logan hit a double and Daniel Robert hit a bunt single to give Auburn runners on the corners. Haecker then converted on a squeeze bunt hit to bring in Logan for their second run.
Thompson kept going with another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the fourth.
Tennessee's first hit came in the fifth after a walk with no outs but Thompson worked his way out of the inning to keep the Vols scoreless.
In the sixth inning, Tennessee loaded the bases for the first time with a pair of base hits and a walk. But once again Auburn managed to escape the inning without allowing a Tennessee run.
To start off the seventh, Tennessee made a pitching change but Dan Glevenyak responded with an RBI double to score Sam Gillikin from second base. Later in the inning Damek Tomscha converted on a suicide squeeze bunt to bring home Glevenyak and take a 4-0 lead.
With no outs and a Tennessee runner on second to start off the eighth inning, Thompson's day was over as he was relieved by Jay Wade.
Wade allowed an infield single, which gave Tennessee runners on the corners with one out. Then they hit an RBI groundout for their first run, which was charged to Thompson who was responsible for the runner who scored. But then Wade allowed an RBI single to make it 4-2 before the inning ended.
Despite starting the ninth with a leadoff double by Connor Short, Auburn left two runners in scoring position going into the bottom of the ninth.
Terrance Dedrick was then called in to try to get the save for Auburn and he did earn the save for the second consecutive day to keep Auburn on top 4-2.
With the win Auburn takes its second SEC series and improves 17-7 on the year. The Tigers will look to sweep the series tomorrow in Knoxville at 1 p.m.
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