March 17, 2013
AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn allowed No. 2 Vanderbilt to jump out to a 7-1 lead after the top of the fourth and then could not make up the difference in an 8-6 loss on Sunday afternoon at Plainsman Park. The loss dropped Auburn to 13-6, 0-3 SEC while Vanderbilt improved to 19-2, 3-0 SEC.
"We talked about getting out of the gates; we have done a very good job of that so far this year. Unfortunately today that kind of set the table," Auburn Head Coach John Pawlowski said. "I was encouraged by the way we settled in and gave our team a chance to come back. The pitchers came in and settled it down."
Trailing 7-1 going to the bottom of the fourth, Auburn started a comeback with a two-run bottom of the fourth. Garrett Cooper singled and scored on a Damek Tomscha double for the first run of the inning and then Tomscha scored on a wild pitch to make it 7-3.
Two innings later Auburn narrowed the gap again as Jackson Burgreen singled in Patrick Savage and Blake Austin to slice the margin to 7-5.
Vanderbilt would get a run back on a Rhett Wiseman eighth-inning RBI single only for Auburn to answer on Hunter Kelley's pinch-hit, RBI double in the bottom half of the frame to score Dan Glevenyak to make it 8-6.
Vanderbilt's Jared Miller earned the win out of the bullpen, allowing one run on two hits and a walk while striking out two in 2 1/3 innings.
Brian Miller earned his seventh save of the season and third of the weekend by getting the final two outs of the game.
Auburn finished the game with 11 hits after having just nine in the first two games of the series. Vanderbilt had 13 hits, led by Mike Yastrzemski's three.
Savage finished the game 2-for-4 and extended his hitting streak to eight games while Cullen Wacker was 1-for-4 to extend his streak to five. Austin also had two hits in the loss.
After Auburn starter Rocky McCord (2-1) allowed four runs on four hits and three walks in 1 12/3 innings, reliever Justin Camp was tagged for three runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks in two innings. Vanderbilt would put the leadoff man on in each of the first three innings, scoring him in the first and second off of McCord.
Terrance Dedrick settled things down for the Auburn pitching staff with 3 2/3 innings of shutout baseball. He would be charged for a run as the last hit he allowed, to Mike Yastrzemski, came around to score after he had left in favor of Conner Kendrick.
Austin caught two Vanderbilt base runners trying to steal second, giving him seven caught stealings this season and 27 for his career, which is eighth all-time in Auburn history.
Auburn returns to the field at 6pm on Tuesday night when it plays host to Alabama State at Plainsman Park.
Vanderbilt 8, Auburn 6 (Mar 17, 2013 at Auburn, AL)
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Vanderbilt.......... 132 100 010 - 8 13 0 (19-2, 3-0 SEC)
Auburn.............. 010 202 010 - 6 11 2 (13-6, 0-3 SEC)
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Win-Jared Miller(1-1) Save-Brian Miller(7) Loss-Rocky McCord(2-1) T-3:00 A-2650
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