The Auburn Tigers take down the Kentucky Wildcats to earn a much-needed series win 11-0 to move them to 8-7 in SEC play. The near perfect game for the Tigers came with the help of a great offensive showing where they totaled 14 hits with only two strikeouts in addition to a great outing on from Alex Petrovic.
“Amazing,” Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said about the game as a whole. “And I think on the heels, when you’re in a game three in a rubber match in this league, just historically, it’s a big deal. But man, there was so much energy put in that ball game last night trying to claw all the way back in the fight on the mound. Our at-bats on 5-0 and 5-4, just all of it, so you never know how we’re going to out that third game.”
With starter Petrovic on the bump the Auburn was in need of a great outing to capture the series and continue to trend in the right direction and that is what he gave them. Immediately to start the game Petrovic threw a seven pitch, two strikeouts scoreless first inning.
Auburn would get their first run on the board early courtesy of a walk and double followed by a Chris Rembert sac fly. That first run was quickly added to when Bub Terrell hit a towering homerun that went 362 feet and landed on top of the batting cage in right field to extend the lead to three runs.
Petrovic would continue to shove as he retired the first 11 batters in order to start the game while accumulating four strikeouts on 30 pitches. His production would be continued throughout the entirety of the game as he finished with a complete seven inning game throwing 92 pitches with five hits, no runs, and completing his eighth strikeout on the last pitch of the game with a 95-mph fastball.
“I just feel like I’m watching a professional game,” said coach Thompson about Petrovic, “his body type, his size, just playing catch. I don’t know what his strike percentage was, but we were 71% yesterday, with a 14 to one strike out to walk ratio. We didn’t walk a guy today and he just absolutely filled it up.”
The Tigers started their second rally in the fifth in which they found a way to plate three more runs coming from an accumulation of Wildcats’ mistakes and Tigers hits led by Rembert and Eric Guevara who both went 3-4 on the day. The inning would then be capped off by a Logan Gregorio grand slam which ultimately got the Tigers to the much needed ten run threshold allowing them to get the mercy rule in the seventh inning.
Logan Gregorio and teammates celebrate a grand slam against Kentucky at Plainsman Park in Auburn, Ala. on April 12, 2026.
The Tigers look to take this newfound positive momentum and use it to propel them as they head into their midweek matchup with Alabama State on Tuesday at plainsman Park at 6:00 p.m. CST before going to Florida for a vital three game in conference series next weekend.
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Reid is a sophomore majoring in accounting. He joined the Plainsman in the fall of 2024.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @ReidFarris2
