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KENNESAW, Ga. - Four Auburn pitchers combined on a one-hitter, and the Tigers won their fourth straight with a 6-1 victory over Kennesaw State at Stillwell Stadium Tuesday night.
The Tigers (10-6) recorded 10 hits on the night and kept the Owls (10-9) from finding many scoring opportunities as Auburn pitchers recorded their second one-hitter of the year.
Sophomore Justin Camp (1-1) was outstanding in his third start of the year, giving up one unearned run on one hit in 6.2 innings of work, issuing just one walk and striking out four. Terrance Dedrick, Jay Wade and Rocky McCord combined to hold the Owls hitless over the final 2 1/3 innings.
"I thought Justin did a really good job," Auburn head coach Sunny Golloway said. "We've asked him to really pitch well when he gets two strikes on the hitter and not just be a thrower. He's been able to get ahead of hitters this year but not put them away. I thought tonight he made a tremendous adjustment. We made one trip to the mound to remind him of that earlier in the game. But he really pitched well for us tonight.
Jordan Ebert kept up his hot hitting, putting together a three-hit night for the third time in four games. He was 3-for-5, scoring a run and driving in two more. His bases-loaded, two-out, two-RBI single in the fifth broke the game open, giving Auburn a 6-0 lead.
"I thought that not being able to score with bases loaded in back-to-back innings might be kind of crushing for us. It's funny in the game of baseball, you can get momentum sometimes by doing just that - allowing your opponent to load the bases and getting out of it. We didn't want that momentum swing, even though we had a 3-0 lead. Jordan did a good job putting the ball in play, it fell for us, and we were very aggressive running the bases to clear them off."
Damek Tomscha hit his third home run in the last four games to highlight a 2-for-4, two-RBI night. Keegan Thompson also had a pair of hits and scored a run on the night.
The Tigers got one run in the first but had an opportunity for more. Ebert and Tella led off the game with back-to-back singles, and a KSU error loaded the bases with one out. Anfernee Grier lofted a sac fly to center to bring home Ebert and give Auburn a 1-0 lead, but the Tigers left a pair.
Tomscha made it 2-0 in the third inning when he launched his fourth home run of the season and third in the last four games, a no-doubter over the left-field wall.
A third run came across courtesy of Tomscha as well. His one-out sacrifice fly in the fourth brought home Damon Haecker from third base to increase Auburn's lead to 3-0.
Auburn would double its lead with two out in the fifth and the bases loaded. Ebert hit a flare into left-center, scoring Glevenyak and Thompson, and as Ebert tried to move to second on the throw home, the KSU catcher's throw to second got away, allowing Haecker to score all the way from first to make it 6-0.
Auburn's defense, however, was shaky at times. The Tigers committed a season-high five errors, one of which led to Kennesaw State's only run in the sixth inning. With one out, KSU's Jacob Bruce reached second on an error and advanced to third on a wild pitch. He would score the Owls' first and only run on an RBI groundout to make it 6-1.
KSU starter Chris Erwin (1-1) was charged with his first loss, giving up two runs on five hits in three innings of work. Outfielder Bo Way had the Owls' only hit on the night.
The Tigers will return to Plainsman Park on Wednesday for a rematch with Alabama State. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.