April 2, 2006
AUBURN, Ala. -
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The Auburn offense exploded for 12 runs on 16 hits and Paul Burnside came in long relief and earned his first career victory as the Tigers knocked off #20 Kentucky, 12-6, on Sunday afternoon. The win gave the Tigers (14-17, 3-6 SEC) their first Southeastern conference series victory of the season.
"Paul Burnside was really the story today. He has really thrown well of late and he followed it up today with another outstanding outing," AU Head Coach Tom Slater said. "He got after and it and did a tremendous job. If Paul Burnside can't come in and give us the innings the way he did, it could have been a long afternoon. He just did a great job of running for us and I was really proud of him."
Burnside entered the game in the second inning with two outs and men on first and second after Kentucky (22-7, 5-4 SEC) had already put four runs on the board and enticed the first batter he faced to line out to right. From there he continued to keep the UK bats at bay, not allowing a single hit in his 3.1 innings of work while striking out three.
"I always wanted to pitch for Auburn and I am finally getting a chance. To get my first win against an SEC team is huge. It definitely feels good," Burnside said.
The Tigers, who had scored three runs in the bottom of the first on a single by Josh Donaldson and an error by the UK defense, tacked on two more runs on RBI doubles by Mike Bianucci and Donaldson in the bottom of the second to grab hold of a lead it would never relinquish.
Donaldson finished the game 4-for-5 with three doubles, three RBIs and two runs scored. For the series the catcher was 6-for-14 with three doubles, a home run and six RBI.
For the second consecutive game, Auburn's bullpen was a big factor in its victory as Burnside, Andy Masten (2.0 IP, UE R), Peter Wiggins (1.0 IP, R) and Johnny Thompson (1.0, 0 R) did not allow a single hit over the final 7.1 innings.
The top three in Auburn's order (Tyler Johnstone, Jeff Boutwell and Bianucci) went a collective 7-for-15 in Sunday's game with two doubles, seven runs scored and three RBIs.
Freshman Luke Greinke also had a big series for the Tigers, finishing the weekend 5-for-10 with two walks, two runs scored, two RBIs and two sacrifice bunts.
Auburn returns to the diamond on Tuesday night when the Tigers take on Samford at the Hoover Met in Birmingham at 7 p.m. CT.