April 10, 2012
AUBURN, Ala. - The Auburn defense turned three big double plays and Cullen Wacker and Zach Alvord both drove in big insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh as the Auburn baseball team claimed a 7-5 win over Samford on Tuesday night at Plainsman Park. The win stopped a three-game slide for Auburn and moved the team's record to 18-14 on the year.
"That's a good team," Auburn Head Coach John Pawlowski said. "We knew they weren't going away. We opened the door for them a little bit on some routine plays that we have to make. But at the end of the day we found a way to win and it was an important win for us against a good team."
Auburn's defense turned double plays in the second, the fourth and again in the seventh, with the seventh-inning turn thwarting what could have been a big inning as Samford would score three times in the inning despite the twin killing.
Auburn's pitching surrendered five runs on 14 hits but only one of those runs was earned as the defense committed three errors on the night.
Dan Glevenyak was moved up to the leadoff spot and responded by going 2-for-3 with two walks and a RBI and it was his leaping snag in the seventh that started the 6-4 double play on a Saxon Butler line drive.
Auburn benefited from some sloppy play by the Samford defense, scoring four times in the third on three hits, a walk and a Samford error. Alvord drove in the game's first run with a RBI single and a Jay Gonzalez bunt pushed the score to 2-0. Glevenyak then singled to short to drive in Alvord and the throw to first sailed into the Samford dugout allowing Gonzalez to come home with the fourth run.
Auburn went up 5-0 in the third on a Creede Simpson RBI double before Samford picked up its only earned run of the game in the fourth on a Tommy Corbin single.
Samford then scored three unearned runs in the sixth, with a C.K. Irby two-out triple driving in two, to make it 5-4 before Wacker and Alvord drove in the crucial insurance runs with a Wacker double and an Alvord single.
After scoring a single run in the eighth on a Brad Moss single, Samford would get two runners in scoring position in the ninth before Justin Bryant got a pair of groundouts to end the game and nail down his fourth save of the season.
Trey Cochran-Gill (2-1) earned the win in a designated split start, allowing just three hits in 2 2/3 innings.
Lex Rutledge (0-3) took the loss for Samford, allowing five runs on five hits and a walk in three innings.
Auburn returns to SEC play this weekend at Vanderbilt.
Auburn 7, Samford 5 (Apr 10, 2012 at Auburn, AL)
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Samford............. 000 100 310 - 5 14 1 (20-13)
Auburn.............. 041 000 20X - 7 11 3 (18-14)
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