April 21, 2009
AUBURN, Ala. - The Auburn offense was held to two hits - a pair of solo home runs - while the pitching staff was tagged for 16 hits in an 8-2 loss to Samford on Tuesday night at Plainsman Park.
"(Tonight) was the most non-competitive game we have played all year," Auburn Head Coach John Pawlowski said. "Offensively we didn't compete at the plate. We competed in spots on the mound but I am just disappointed in our effort today. We didn't do anything today that would give us even a remote chance to win tonight. That falls squarely on everybody. Not one person, not one player but everybody has to take responsibility for this."
Samford's Stephen Ballard was 4-for-5 at the plate with four singles and a walk, scoring a run while Trey Hayes was 2-for-3 with a triple and a home run, driving in five RBI.
Samford's Kyle Putkonen (3-2) earned the win, throwing seven complete innings and holding the Auburn bats to the just the two runs and two hits while striking out a career-high eight.
Samford (15-26) tagged Auburn starter Paul Burnside (1-3) for four runs on seven hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings, scoring three times in the first after Burnside had recorded two outs. The big blow was Hayes' bases-clearing triple to the wall in left-center on a 2-2 pitch from Burnside.
Michael Johnson led off the top of the second with Samford's second triple of the game and scored on a Brad Moss sacrifice fly to go up 4-0 before Casey McElroy delivered a leadoff homer in the bottom half of the inning to left to cut the lead to 4-1.
The game stayed that way until the sixth when Hunter Morris sent a 2-2 pitch over the wall in right to make it 4-2 but that was the last hit Auburn (25-16) would record on the night as the team struck out 13 times against just two hits, four walks and a hit batter.
The hit batter was Joseph Sanders in the first, who took a 2-0 pitch in the face and left the game.
"Joe's jaw, I am not really sure where it is broke, but he is going to have to have surgery. You feel so bad for him. He is having a great year and one pitch puts him in a tough spot. This is just a tough situation," Pawlowski said.
McElroy's home run was his sixth of the year while Morris was his 10th, bringing the season total up to 86 on the season, one shy of the Auburn single-season record of 87 set in 1998.
Samford tacked on a pair of runs in both the seventh and eighth innings, scoring twice on a Hayes homer in the seventh and twice on a Marcus Rodriguez two-out bases-loaded single through the right side of the infield.
Auburn returns to Southeastern Conference action this weekend at No. 6 LSU. Game times are set for 7pm on Friday, 3pm on Saturday and 1pm on Sunday with both the Friday and Sunday games being shown live from Baton Rouge on CSS.
Samford 8, Auburn 2 (Apr 21, 2009 at Auburn, AL)
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Samford............. 310 000 220 - 8 16 0 (15-26)
Auburn.............. 010 001 000 - 2 2 1 (25-16)
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Win-Kyle Putkonen(3-2) Loss-Paul Burnside(1-3) T-2:46 A-2106
HR SAM - Trey Hayes (6).
HR AU - Hunter Morris (10); Casey McElroy (6).
