May 17, 2007
LEXINGTON, Ky. -
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Joseph Sanders' grand slam highlighted a seven-run fourth inning and Evan Crawford allowed just three runs to earn his fifth win of the season as Auburn exploded for a 18-7 victory at Kentucky on Thursday night.
"The guys were locked in tonight. "We had a good workout last night and the kids were excited to play tonight," Auburn Head Coach Tom Slater said. "Scoring runs early takes Kentucky out of its game and in doing so we took some opportunities away from them."
Auburn (30-24, 9-19 SEC) jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two-and-half innings as Andy Bennett (2-for-5, 2B, R, 3 RBI) hit a RBI single and scored in the second and then pushed two more runs across when he reached on a throwing error by Kentucky third baseman Matt McKinney with two down in the top of the third.
Kentucky (33-18-1, 12-15-1) scored two in the bottom of the third before Auburn broke things open with the seven-run fourth inning, connecting for four hits, taking an intentional walk, getting a runner on via a hit batter and two Kentucky errors.
The big blow of the fourth came off the bat of Sanders (2-for-2, BB, 3 R, 5 RBI) as the freshman delivered Auburn's third grand slam of the season, a shot off the scoreboard in left-center. All three of Auburn's grand slams this season have been hit by freshmen as Eric Skinner smacked one at South Alabama and Robert Brooks did it at LSU.
"Adrenaline just took over as I wasn't really feeling anything up there," Sanders said of taking a foul ball off of his ankle prior to the grand slam. "I really didn't feel any pain at the time. (Kentucky starter Chris Rusin) tried to bring a slider and I squared it up and hit it out."
The grand slam was preceded by a Luke Greinke (2-for-6, 2 R, RBI) RBI single, an error by right fielder Mike Brown that allowed Josh Donaldson (4-for-6, 2 R, RBI) to reach base and an intentional walk to Mike Bianucci (2-for-5, 4 R, RBI).
Crawford (5-6) earned his first win since April 10 at Mercer as the lefty went 5.0 innings, allowing three runs on three hits. It marked his second career win over Kentucky as he also defeated UK last year in Auburn as AU won the series from the Wildcats on the Plains.
"The run support keeps you confident out there. I got the lead, relaxed and the defense made plays behind me," Crawford said.
Auburn tacked on five runs in the ninth on five singles and an error as Kentucky finished the game with four errors.
Josh Blake earned his first career save as he threw the final 4.0 innings and allowed four runs on five hits.
Bruce Edwards (3-for-6, 3 R) stole his 28th base of the year in the top of the seventh, tying him with Dom Fucci for third on Auburn's single-season list. It was also the 57th of his career, putting him one behind Clete Thomas for fifth on the career list.
All nine starters recorded at least one hit for Auburn, who finished with 20 hits, with eight different hitters finishing with multi-hit games. The 20 hits were the most for Auburn since belting out 22 at Mercer on April 10.
Chris Rusin (5-4) took the loss for Kentucky, allowing 12 runs on 10 hits and two walks in 4.0 innings.
The two teams will play game two of the three-game set beginning at 6:30pm ET on Friday. Auburn will send Fr. RHP Taylor Thompson (4-2) to the mound while Kentucky will counter with Jr. LHP Andrew Albers (6-4).