May 16, 2010
AUBURN, Ala. - Trent Mummey continued his torrid play on Sunday afternoon, belting two more home runs and driving in five runs a day after driving in seven as Auburn claimed a fourth straight SEC series win with a 9-2 victory over Tennessee at Plainsman Park. Grant Dayton limited Tennessee to just two runs in 6 2/3 innings as Auburn improved to 35-17, 17-10 SEC and assured itself of going into the final weekend with a chance at a division title.
"Now we have a chance to win the West and play for a championship, and that's what it is all about," Auburn Head Coach John Pawlowski said. "Grant Dayton did what he has been doing, giving us a chance to win, and Trent was outstanding today."
Mummey, who missed the first 28 games, belted two-run home runs in the first and fourth innings to up his home run total to 13 on the season and his RBI total to 38, which is already third on the team. In the weekend series, he had seven hits, six of which went for extra-bases, including consecutive two-homer games to close out the series.
"This is probably the best I have been seeing it. When you go in the first inning and you go to slash and you hit a home run, things are going good for you," Mummey said. "When you are hot, you're hot. I worked a lot in the cages this past week and I worked a lot with Coach Link (Jarrett) and that paid off this weekend."
Mummey's two homers helped the team establish a new single-season home run record with 104, breaking the mark of 103 set last year.
Justin Fradejas (1-for-3) drove in a pair of runs with second- and fourth-inning sacrifice fly outs.
Dayton (7-2) picked up a third straight win, only allowing three runners to get into scoring position. Two of those runners came around to score as Matt Duffy had a RBI single in the fourth and PJ Polk drove in a run with a RBI single in the fifth, but Dayton was continually helped out by his defense, which turned a season-high-tying three double plays on the afternoon.
"We had the opportunity to win the series and we did, and that was our main goal. We try and take it one game at a time," Dayton said. "This kept us in the race for first place in the West. We control our own destiny now and that's really exciting. We played great the whole way around. We made great defensive plays and that's what kept us in the game."
Though it came after Dayton left in the seventh, the defense play of the game came in the eighth when Mummey laid out to rob Blake Forsythe of an extra-base hit in the right-center gap. Mummey made a full extension, backhanded grab of the liner, bringing the Plainsman Park crowd of 2,781 to its feet.
With the win, Auburn assures itself of being in first place in the SEC West when it heads to Ole Miss for the final conference series of the year.
Tennessee dropped to 29-23, 12-15 with the loss, with starter Bryan Morgado (2-7) getting tagged with the loss as he allowed four runs in 1 1/3 innings.
Auburn's 35 wins are its most since the team was 42-21 in 2003 while the 17 league wins are the most since the team was 18-12 that same season.
Auburn's last SEC West championship came in 1995 when it was 50-13 overall, 19-8 SEC.
Auburn will play its final non-conference game Tuesday night at 6:30pm CT when it plays host to Jacksonville State.
Auburn 9, Tennessee 2 (May 16, 2010 at Auburn, AL)
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Tennessee........... 000 110 000 - 2 11 1 (29-23, 12-15 SEC)
Auburn.............. 220 320 00X - 9 9 1 (35-17, 17-10 SEC)
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Win-Grant Dayton(7-2) Loss-Bryan Morgado(2-7) T-2:46 A-2781
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