May 12, 2009
AUBURN, Ala. - Brian Fletcher's two-out RBI single in the bottom of the eighth broke open a 6-6 tie and made a winner out of Sean Ray, who threw 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, as Auburn picked up a 8-6 win over Georgia Southern on Tuesday night in Auburn's final non-conference game of the season. The win was the first in Ray's career, who has thrown 13 2/3 consecutive innings of scoreless relief over his last five appearances.
"It felt good to get my first collegiate win," said Ray, a redshirt sophomore. "My fastball was working tonight and the change-up was working well. It felt good to get back out there after the Kentucky series and get back into the swing of things."
Ray, who threw six scoreless innings in relief on Saturday night at Kentucky, has allowed just four total hits over his last five appearances, issuing two walks against eight punch outs dating back to March 7 against Brown.
"This was a good win for the Tigers. Georgia Southern is a good club with a very good RPI and record and I think this is great for our confidence," Auburn Head Coach John Pawlowski said. "This was a hard-fought game. We were up 6-2 and they battled back."
Casey McElroy finished with a team-high three RBI on the night, driving in a run in the first with a RBI double and then drawing a bases-loaded walk in the second to push Auburn out to a 6-2 lead after two complete innings. Following Fletcher's eighth-inning single up the middle, McElroy was able to double him in from first to give Auburn a two-run cushion.
Austin Hubbard picked up his SEC-leading 12th save, entering for Ray in the ninth after he allowed a leadoff single. After Ty Wright reached on an error and Kevin Bowles sacrificed the two runners into scoring position, Hubbard fanned Griffin Benedict and Eric Phillips to end the game and earn his second straight save.
"We did some good things on the mound again today. Sean Ray did an outstanding job for us and Hub got us out of some trouble in the ninth," Pawlowski said.
Auburn jumped on top of Georgia Southern starter Andy Moye from the get-go, scoring six times on five hits and five walks, knocking him from the game in the second inning with the bases loaded. Hunter Morris and McElroy each drove in a run in the first to put Auburn ahead, 2-1, before Auburn scored four times in the second, with Ben Jones delivering a two-out double down the line in right to score two.
Trent Mummey, who entered the game as the league-leader with 63 runs scored, scored twice in the game, coming home in the first on Morris' single and then scoring the game-winning run on Fletcher's ball back up the middle in the eighth.
Georgia Southern was able to score four runs (two earned) off of Scott Shuman in the fifth to tie the game at 6-6, with Benedict driving in a pair with a double to the wall in right-center after a Roman Grimaldi leadoff single and an error by Justin Hargett on a double-play ball that allowed Ty Wright to reach base. Phillip Porter scored Benedict with a single of his own, prompting the move to Ray, who allowed a pair of singles before settling in and retiring 10 straight hitters before the ninth-inning single.
Auburn finished its non-conference season with 20 wins and now stands at 29-24 overall heading into the final weekend of the regular season.
Dexter Bobo (2-2) took the loss for Georgia Southern, which fell to 35-15 on the season.
Auburn closes out the regular season at home against arch-rival Alabama. Game times are 6pm CT on both Thursday and Friday and 3pm on Saturday. Thursday's game will air live on CSS while the Saturday contest will be shown as the SEC Game of the Week on FSN.
Auburn 8, Georgia Southern 6 (May 12, 2009 at Auburn, AL)
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Georgia Southern.... 110 040 000 - 6 11 0 (35-15)
Auburn.............. 240 000 02X - 8 9 2 (29-24)
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Win-Sean Ray(1-0) Save-Austin Hubbard(12) Loss-Dexter Bobo(2-2) T-3:10 A-2094
