After a ninth-inning rally that came up short Friday night, Auburn carried that momentum over to Saturday in a one-hitter and Sunday in a 12-5 victory with 14 hits to win the series over Presbyterian.
Senior pitcher Jay Wade earned the win in 4.1 relief innings while only allowing two hits and no runs.
"He was terrific," said Auburn head coach Sunny Golloway. "Jay is kind of an unsung hero of our pitching staff. He's a grinder and when we call on him to do it, he'll do it for us. He came out of the bullpen, stepped up and pitched."
Auburn started the game off shaky when starting pitcher Trey Wingenter did not get out of the first inning.
Wingenter, who only pitched one inning this season prior to this start, gave up an RBI single to Presbyterian's Cam McRae. After he hit Nate Chong to load up the bases, right-hander Michael O'Neal took over on the mound for Auburn and managed to get out of the bases-loaded jam to end the inning.
Auburn's bats responded in the bottom of the first with a three-run home run over the left field Green Monster by Damek Tomscha. Tomscha's homer was the first one for Auburn this season.
In the following inning, Anfernee Grier continued his 11-game hitting streak with an RBI single to score Ryan Tella and make it 4-1.
Presbyterian earned their second run with a base hit RBI by Jacob Midkiff in the top of the third, but that inning ended with a bases-loaded groundout.
Tella, who went 3-for-3 on the day, hit an RBI single to make it 5-2, which also caused Presbyterian's first pitching change in the bottom of the third.
The top of the fourth was a rough one for O'Neal as Presbyterian tied it up 5-5.
After two singles put runners on first and second, O'Neal had a wild throw trying to pick off the runner at first, which scored Brandon Martin from second. Then McRae hit another RBI single to make it 5-4. The next batter, Brandon Paul, tied the score with an RBI double. Wade then replaced O'Neal.
Wade kept Presbyterian scoreless for the next four innings he pitched. Wade also had three consecutive 1-2-3 innings and did not allow a hit until the 11th batter that he faced.
Auburn scored a run in every inning besides the bottom of the eighth.
After Presbyterian tied the game in the fourth, Auburn's bats responded well starting with a double off the left field wall by Dan Glevenyak. A balk scored Grier and then Tomscha hit an RBI single to drive in Glevenyak and take the 7-5 lead.
Auburn put up their next two runs in the bottom of the fifth with Tella scoring off of a fielder's choice and Grier hitting another RBI to score Jordan Ebert.
For the third consecutive inning, Auburn put up two runs thanks to a sacrifice fly RBI by Tella and an RBI single by Ebert to make it 11-5. Grier scored their final run off of a Blake Logan groundout.
Trey Cochran-Gill kept the score at 12-5 as he successfully closed out the game in the ninth.
"We played all of our position guys today and everyone was hooked up and into the game," Golloway said. "I see a baseball team that's getting better, we've got a long ways to go."
Auburn's next game is against Alabama this Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Montgomery at Riverwalk Stadium in the annual MAX Capital City Classic between the two rivals.
"We're excited," Golloway said. "It's going to be a great learning experience for our young club."
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