March 8, 2009
AUBURN, Ala. - Casey McElroy's liner into center with the bases loaded and one down in the bottom of the 11th gave Auburn a four-game series sweep of Brown as Auburn won, 10-9, on Sunday afternoon at Plainsman Park. The win improved Auburn's record to 9-4 and extended the team's winning streak to seven games.
Down 9-8 heading into the bottom of the 11th, Hunter Morris singled to right to get Auburn's rally started. With Bradley Ray pinch running for Morris, Brian Fletcher delivered his fifth extra-base hit of the series, tripling down the line in right to tie the game at 9-9. Brown then issued an intentional walk to Kevin Patterson and hit pinch hitter Wes Gilmer to load the bases. Down 0-2 in the count, McElroy worked the count even at 2-2 before lifting a soft liner into center that Brown center fielder Steve Daniels could not make a play on, allowing Fletcher to score the game-winning run.
"There was a lot of tension in that last at bat. There were two strikes and the crowd was into it. My main goal was just to make contact and fortunately I was able to come up big for us," McElroy said.
Auburn had to score four late-inning runs just to send the game to extra innings after falling behind 8-4 in the sixth.
"We were down 8-4 but the one characteristic that this team has shown in the early stages of the season is that we have the ability to come back. We feel like we have the ability to come back and we did that again today," Auburn Head Coach John Pawlowski said. "It is hard to beat anyone four times but that was a good win for us today."
Auburn got three of the runs it needed in the seventh as Justin Hargett and Trent Mummey led off the inning with back-to-back singles to put runners on first and second. After a Joseph Sanders pop-up, Ben Jones doubled in Hargett and Mummey to get the game to 8-6. Morris followed with a single to center, scoring Jones. Auburn would load the bases after that with a walk to Fletcher and a fielding error by Brown third baseman Ryan Zrenda but Conor Burke was able to strikeout Tony Caldwell and get McElroy to fly out to right to keep Brown up a run.
Still down a run heading in the eighth, Hargett again found himself at the plate to lead off the inning and again he delivered, knocking a double to left. A wild pitch by Brown hurler Matthew Kimball moved Hargett to third and then a second wild pitch allowed Hargett to race home with the tying run, making it 8-8.
Hargett finished the game 2-for-4 with a RBI, extending his hitting streak to eight games, one shy of his personal best.
McElroy's 11th-inning heroics made a winner out of Austin Hubbard (2-0), who threw the final 2 1/3 innings, allowing a run on four hits while striking out three. Rob Wilcox (0-1) suffered the loss for Brown.
"You have to have a guy (in the bullpen) that can stabilize things and settle things down. Austin came in and did a great job, as did Michael Hurst," Pawlowski said.
After a scoreless 10th, Brown put itself in position to win in the top of the 11th as Daniels singled, stole second and went to third on Nick Punal's single to right. A sacrifice fly to right by Matt Nuzzo scored Daniels for the short-lived, 9-8 lead.
Auburn took a 1-0 lead in the second on Justin Hargett's RBI groundout only to have Brown answer with a run of its own in the top of the third as Zrenda knocked in Matt Colantonio with a one-out triple to left-center.
Brown (1-5) took a 3-1 lead in the fourth as Tyler Graham hit a two-run home run off of Auburn starter Chris O'Neil only to have McElroy answer with a RBI double in the bottom half of the frame to draw Auburn within a run.
O'Neil, making his first career start in just his fourth career appearance, worked into the fifth inning, allowing three runs on six hits, striking out two in 4 2/3 innings.
Auburn reclaimed the lead at 4-3 in the fifth on a two-run home run by Ben Jones off of Brown starter Matt Boylan before Auburn's bullpen gave the lead back to Brown in the sixth, allowing five runs on three hits and two walks. Scott Shuman allowed the bulk of the runs, surrendering four runs in the frame before giving way to Rus Harper, who also allowed a Brown run when Daniels hit a triple off of him and scored on a wild pitch.
The seventh-inning single for Mummey extended his hitting streak to 12 games and his two runs gave him 26 on the year. Joseph Sanders was not as fortunate, finishing the afternoon 0-for-5 with a walk, putting an end to his 10-game hitting streak.
Jones' fifth-inning home run was the 29th for the team in just 13 games.
Auburn returns to the diamond on Tuesday night when it heads to Montgomery's Riverwalk Stadium for the inaugural Max Capital City Classic against rival Alabama in a non-conference bout. First pitch is scheduled for 7pm CT but fans are encouraged to arrive by 6:30 to see all of the pregame festivities.
Auburn 10, Brown 9 (Mar 08, 2009 at Auburn, Ala.)
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Brown............... 001 205 000 01 - 9 16 2 (1-5)
Auburn.............. 010 120 310 02 - 10 12 0 (9-4)
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Win-Austin Hubbard(2-0) Loss-Wilcox, Rob(0-1) T-3:27 A-2079
HR BRWN - Tyler, Graham (1).
HR AU - Ben Jones (3).
