April 3, 2011
AUBURN, Ala. - No. 1 Vanderbilt's four-run seventh broke open a tie game and handed Auburn a 6-2 loss on Sunday afternoon at Plainsman Park. The loss dropped the Auburn baseball team's record to 15-13, 2-7 SEC while Vanderbilt is now 26-3, 7-2 SEC.
"There is a lot of baseball left to be played and certainly we have not gotten off to the start that we had hoped for," Auburn Head Coach John Pawlowski said. "When you play good teams, and Vanderbilt is a very good team, when you have opportunities you have to seize those opportunities. We didn't this weekend."
Tied at 2-2 heading to the seventh, Vanderbilt scored four times off of Ethan Wallen (1-3), taking advantage of five singles and a hit batter in the inning, knocking Wallen out with only one out in the inning, one run in and the bases loaded.
Cory Luckie followed Wallen and allowed all three of the men on base to score, helping Vanderbilt hand Auburn a second consecutive SEC series sweep.
Auburn had a chance in the sixth to take its first lead of the game, loading the bases as Tony Caldwell (1-for-3, BB), Dan Gamache (3-for-4, 2B, R) and Wes Gilmer (2-for-4, 2 RBI) all singled with one out in the inning. That prompted Vanderbilt to make the move to Will Clinard (1-0) out of the bullpen. Clinard then struck out pinch hitter Brooks Beisner and induced a fly out off the bat of Creede Simpson (1-for-4) to keep the game tied at 2-2, setting the stage for the four-run top of the seventh.
Down 2-0 after the first, Auburn tied the game in the fourth when Gilmer singled in Caldwell and Gamache with one out in the inning.
Curt Casali led Vanderbilt with three hits while Tony Kemp (2-for-4), Anthony Gomez (2-for-5) and Riley Reynolds (2-for-5) all had two of Vanderbilt's 12 hits.
Zach Alvord went 1-for-4 with a double for Auburn, which finished with 10 hits.
Caldwell threw out another runner trying to steal a base on him, giving him 12 on the season.
Auburn hits the road for seven straight games, beginning on Tuesday at Troy. First pitch is set for 6pm and the game will air live on CSS. Auburn will then travel to Kentucky for a weekend SEC series, April 8-10.
Vanderbilt 6, Auburn 2 (Apr 03, 2011 at Auburn, AL)
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Vanderbilt.......... 200 000 400 - 6 12 0 (26-3, 7-2 SEC)
Auburn.............. 000 200 000 - 2 10 3 (15-13, 2-7 SEC)
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Win-Will Clinard(1-0) Loss-Ethan Wallen(1-3) T-2:49 A-3156
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