March 5, 2010
AUBURN, Ala. - Down by four runs heading to the bottom of the seventh, Auburn scored eight times on seven hits, a walk and two hit-batters in the bottom half of the frame to rally for a 14-9 win over Miami (Ohio) on Friday night at Plainsman Park. Creede Simpson (5-for-6, 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI) and Brian Fletcher (4-for-5, 2B, HR, BB, 3 R, 4 RBI) combined to hit nine of Auburn's season-high 22 hits and drove in seven of the team's 14 runs as Auburn (7-2) ran its winning streak to four straight.
"I didn't have the best of hits but I will take them. The seventh was a complete momentum switch. Once the big inning occurred we were feeling great," Simpson said.
Down 9-5 going to the bottom of the seventh after leading 4-1 after four, Auburn's highest-scoring inning of the season started with Fletcher's fifth home run of the season and 32nd of his career, a solo blast to the back of the visitor's bullpen to get Auburn to within three runs. Casey McElroy (1-for-5, 2B, BB, R) followed with a double and the rally was on as pinch hitter Dan Gamache singled home McElroy and Justin Bryant (1-for-3, HBP, SAC, 2 R), Simpson smoked a one-out, two-run double past the first baseman and Fletcher doubled in a pair with his second hit of the inning, a liner down the left field line. Tony Caldwell (3-for-5, 2B, 3R, 2 RBI) capped the scoring with a two-out double that put Auburn up 13-9.
"We try to build some momentum, get some guys on base and drive some runs in," Fletcher said. "At the beginning of the season I figured I would be seeing a lot more off-speed stuff and during practice and before games I have been trying to work on my approach. I am just trying to do the little things like move guys over to help the team."
Through nine games, Fletcher is hitting .447, has driven in a SEC-best 23 runs and has a .947 slugging percentage with four doubles and five home runs.
Six of Auburn's eight runs in the inning were scored off of Jordan Jankowski (1-1), who retired just two batters while surrendering five hits, a walk and hitting two batters as Miami (2-5), which came in with a team ERA of 7.62, used five relief pitchers over the final 2 2/3 innings.
"I thought our guys responded very well. Dan Gamache had a big pinch hit and guys had clutch two-out hits," Auburn Head Coach John Pawlowski said. "We had no walks as a pitching staff, which is big for us, and we didn't commit any errors and we played some solid defense."
Michael Hurst (1-0) was the beneficiary of the big inning, throwing the final three innings to pick up his first win of the season. His biggest contribution may have come in the top of the eighth as he sat the Miami hitters down 1-2-3 to keep the momentum in the Auburn dugout.
"We scored eight runs in that one inning and Michael went out there and gave us a 1-2-3 inning and got us right back in the dugout and kept the momentum with us. We really needed that," Pawlowski said.
Jon Luke Jacobs had a solid start to his outing, retiring the first nine hitters he faced before running into trouble in the top of the fourth, serving up a leadoff home run to Adam Eaton (2-for-5, R, 3 RBI). He temporarily settled down after that but was then roughed up for four more runs on five hits in the fifth, departing with Auburn behind, 5-4.
Auburn will try to capture the series win on Saturday afternoon at 3pm when it sends Jr. LHP Grant Dayton (0-1, 7.00 ERA) to the mound. Miami will counter with Sr. RHP Reece Asbury (0-1, 9.45).
Auburn 14, Miami (Ohio) 9 (Mar 05, 2010 at Auburn, AL)
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Miami (Ohio)........ 000 143 100 - 9 14 1 (2-5)
Auburn.............. 011 201 81X - 14 22 0 (7-2)
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Win-Michael Hurst(1-0) Loss-Jankowski,Jordan(1-1) T-3:00 A-1742
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