March 29, 2008
Auburn, Ala. -
After piling up a four-run lead after four innings, Auburn was held to just one hit over the final six frames as it fell to Tennessee, 8-4, in 11 innings in front of the ninth-largest crowd in Plainsman Park history. The loss evened the series at a game apiece and dropped Auburn's record to 17-10, 3-5 SEC.
Auburn jumped on top in the third inning as Trent Mummey (3-for-5) continued his torrid production from the top of the lineup, driving in the first of two RBI on the day to give him seven over the last four games. The man he drove in was the hottest hitter on the Auburn team, Matt Hall, who had laced a triple to the left-center gap to extend his hitting streak to eight games.
Auburn tacked on three more in the fourth as Kevin Patterson (1-for-4, R), Brian Fletcher (1-for-4) and Mummey all drove in runs off of Tennessee starter Bryan Morgado to make it 4-0 Auburn.
After allowing Tennessee (16-8, 5-3 SEC) to get a run back in the top of the fifth, Auburn seemed poised to break it open in the bottom half of the frame as it loaded the bases with just one down. With Morgado departing with the sacks full, it took Tennessee reliever Danny Wiltz just one pitch to Tennessee out of the inning as Fletcher lined into a double play to end Auburn's threat.
Wiltz (3-0) was dominant from there on, holding Auburn to one hit and one walk over the final 6.2 innings to pick up the win.
"We had a really good game plan against Morgado and executed it tremendously," Auburn Head Coach Tom Slater said. "We got a high pitch-count on him and got him out of the game but then Wiltz comes in and held us to one hit in 21 times at the plate. We pitched well enough to win and played good enough defense to win. We have been swinging the bats really well over the last couple of games but the back-half of the game tonight we didn't."
Tennessee knotted the game at 4-4 with three in the sixth on a bases loaded fielder's choice and a double down the left field line that scored two.
Bryan Woodall (0-1) suffered his first loss of the season, allowing four runs in the 11th after getting Auburn out of a two-on, no-out jam in the 10th.
The game was played in front of 4,220 fans.
The two teams will play the rubber game of the series at 2pm on Sunday. Auburn will send Fr. RHP Bradley Hendrix (1-0, 3.96) to the hill while Tennessee will counter with So. LHP Nick Hernandez (0-1, 4.85).