May 21, 2010
Western Division Champs Merchandise | Buy SEC Tourney Tix
OXFORD, Miss. - Last weekend No. 16 Auburn clinched its first SEC Tournament berth in six years. On Friday night Auburn one-upped itself, pounding No. 17 Ole Miss for 20 hits in a decisive 18-4 win that clinched the program's first SEC Western Division Championship since the 1995 season. The top hitting team in the SEC in both team batting average and home runs, Auburn collected 10 extra-base hits on the night, including five home runs, to move to 38-17, 19-10 SEC.
"The guys deserve this championship and winning the SEC West," Auburn Head Coach John Pawlowski said. "We have been swinging the bats well and we also pitched well. These guys came out today with an intensity level that has been consistent. We didn't do anything differently."
The 19 league wins represent the most in school history for the regular season, eclipsing the 18 won in both 1999 and 2003.
Auburn also clinched the second seed in next week's SEC Tournament in Hoover and will play the first game of the day on Wednesday, May 26 at 9:30am CT. Auburn's opponent will be either Alabama or LSU, depending on Saturday's outcomes.
Brian Fletcher went 3-for-6, including two home runs, and Ryan Jenkins was 4-for-6 with two doubles and a home run as Auburn scored 10 times in the first four innings to send the 7,192 fans at Oxford-University Stadium home early.
"Coming into the game, we had the West in back of our minds, but the guys knew we had to keep it simple and come out here and play and not try and do too much," Fletcher said.
Slade Smith (3-0) picked up the win in relief, entering with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth and only one out. The freshman would throw the next 5 2/3 innings, surrendering a sacrifice fly in the fourth but keeping Ole Miss off the board the rest of the way, allowing five hits without issuing any walks and striking out five.
"It was my job to come in and shut them up and get us back in the dugout so we could put up some more runs and that's exactly what we did," Smith said. "In this environment, against a great team like Ole Miss, to come in, it is everything I dreamed of. When I signed the dotted papers to play for Auburn, this is what I wanted. It's great to see us finally at this level."
"Slade came into a tough situation and got us out of it and then finished the game for us," Pawlowski said.
For the second straight night, Dan Gamache put Auburn on the board first with a home run, this time sending a 1-2 pitch from Ole Miss (36-19, 16-13 SEC) starter Aaron Barrett (7-3) into the student section in right behind the Auburn bullpen. The homer drove in Jenkins, who had doubled to the wall in right-center in the previous at bat, to give Auburn a 2-0 advantage.
"Barrett has an outstanding slider and the first mistake he made, Danny Gamache was fortunate to get on that slider and open things up a little bit," Pawlowski said.
Auburn chased Barrett with two outs in the third as it scored four times to go up 6-0. Jenkins hit his seventh home run of the season, a three-run shot to left-center that scored Hunter Morris and Kevin Patterson, to give Auburn a five-run lead. Doubles by Gamache and Mummey sandwiched a Justin Hargett walk and scored the fourth run of the inning, sending Barrett to the dugout after surrendering seven hits and four walks in just 2 2/3 innings.
"This is a great step forward for Auburn baseball," Jenkins said. "To play that kind of game to do it is pretty special. I can't say enough about how well we played today. Everybody hit well, Cole came out and threw well and then Slade came out and shut them down."
Fletcher greeted Matt Tracy with a three-run home run of his own, his 19th of the season, to put Auburn up 9-0 and hang two more runs on Barrett. The eight runs allowed by Barrett tied the most anyone had posted on the senior right hander in his career, also done by South Carolina earlier this season.
Hargett's two-out single in the fourth off of Matt Tracy was Auburn's 10th hit of the game and it scored McElroy to put Auburn up 10-0 while Ole Miss had yet to get a hit off of Nelson, who outside of a leadoff walk in the second had kept Ole Miss off the bases through 3 1/3 innings.
That all changed in the fourth when Ole Miss strung together four hits and two walks to knock Nelson out of the game with Auburn up, 10-3, and the bases loaded and one out. Matt Smith and Matt Snyder hit back-to-back one-out doubles, followed by a Zach Miller single. A walk to Taylor Hashman, a two-run single by Alex Yarbrough and a walk to Mike Snyder sent Nelson to the Auburn dugout in favor of Slade Smith.
Smith allowed a sacrifice fly to Miles Hamblin but then got a groundout out of Tim Ferguson to end the inning with Auburn up, 10-4. Nelson was charged with four runs on four hits and three walks, striking out five.
Auburn answered with a three-run top of the fifth as Fletcher led off with his second home run of the game, establishing a new school record for multiple homer games with nine. Auburn then loaded the bases on Tracy on a single and two walks and had two runs score on Hargett's third walk of the game and a passed ball, giving Auburn the 13-4 lead.
"This game is all about momentum. For them to score four, it got the fans all excited and Ole Miss got all excited," Fletcher said. "I was just looking to get on base and make things happen for us. (Tracy) threw me a fastball away and I was able to square it up and put it out. That was big. It calmed down the stands a little bit."
Auburn put five more runs on the board in the top of the sixth to go up 18-4, with Patterson delivering a three-run home run off the batter's eye in center, Jenkins driving in McElroy with a double to the gap in right-center and Trent Mummey singling home Jenkins.
Auburn will attempt to complete its third SEC series sweep of the season on Saturday afternoon at 4pm CT. Jr. LHP Grant Dayton (7-2, 4.80) gets the starting nod for Auburn while Ole Miss will start So. RHP David Goforth (1-4, 7.76).
Auburn 18, Ole Miss 4 (May 21, 2010 at Oxford, MS)
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Auburn.............. 027 135 000 - 18 20 2 (38-17, 19-10 SEC)
Ole Miss............ 000 400 000 - 4 9 0 (36-19, 16-13 SEC)
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Win-Slade Smith(3-0) Loss-Aaron Barrett(7-3) T-3:37 A-7192
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