May 12, 2006
AUBURN, Ala. -
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After falling behind by five after one inning, Auburn battled back to take the lead in the bottom of the fourth but Georgia countered with a four-run fifth as the #16 Bulldogs downed the Tigers, 10-7, on Friday night at Plainsman Park.
Georgia (33-16, 14-11 SEC) tagged Auburn starter Paul Burnside for five runs on four hits in the first to take a 5-0 lead and end Burnside's streak of consecutive conference innings without allowing an earned run at 25.1. The big blow in the inning was a three-run home run over the wall in left-center by Jason Jacobs with one out.
Auburn (22-29, 9-16 SEC) would not fold, however, scoring two runs in the second on RBI singles by Justin Bristow (2-for-5) and Tyler Johnstone (1-for-4).
The Tigers then added a single run in the third on a leadoff home run by Mike Bianucci (3-for-5, 2 RBI), his eighth of the season, to climb within two runs at 5-3.
After Burnside put up his third straight inning of shutout ball after the first, AU scored three times in the fourth to take a 6-5 lead, with Luke Greinke (1-for-5), Bianucci and Josh Donaldson (0-for-4) providing the RBIs.
Georgia answered right away with four in the top of the fifth as the Bulldogs stroked four doubles in the inning to take a 9-6 lead and knock Burnside out of the game.
After allowing a single run in the seventh, Auburn scored one in bottom half of the inning on Russell Dixon's second double of the night and got the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the eighth but could not tie up the game.
UGA's Mickey Westphal moved to a perfect 6-0 on the season as he picked up the win despite surrendering seven runs on 11 hits in 6.2 innings.
"I think offensively our guys did a nice job on Westphal," AU Head Coach Tom Slater said. "We came in with a good plan of attack and that was good to see."
Joshua Fields picked up his 11th save of the season with a perfect 1.1 innings of relief.
Burnside (2-2) allowed eight runs on seven hits in 4.1 innings to take the loss.
"It was a studly effort by Paul to put zeroes up after the first. They are a very good ball club and I am very proud of the way Paul stayed composed on the mound," Slater said.
Andy Masten was very effective for the Tigers out of the bullpen, allowing just two runs on seven hits while striking out four in 4.2 innings of relief of Burnside.
The two teams will play the second game of the three-game series beginning at 4 p.m. CT on Saturday. Auburn will send freshman Evan Crawford (5-6) to the mound while UGA counters with Brooks Brown (5-3).