March 13, 2016
By Charles Goldberg
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. -- The offense has scored more runs in each of the first two games than anybody has scored against No. 1 Florida all season. But No. 3 Auburn enters the series finale against the Gators at 6 p.m. Monday thinking about some basics, and plotting to win its first SEC game of the year after falling to Florida 8-5 Sunday.
"You never want to get swept. That part is huge," said Auburn coach Clint Myers. "The key thing is we've got to put a complete game together."
Auburn hit three home runs Sunday, first by Emily Carosone in the first and then back-to-back homers by Kasey Cooper and Carlee Wallace for a 4-3 lead in the third. Florida hit three homers.
Florida improved to 26-0 overall and 2-0 in the Southeastern Conference. Auburn fell to 22-3 and 0-2 in the league.
"It's the second game of the season. We have 22 more to go," Myers said. "There's a reason they're ranked No. 1 in the country."
The series is a headliner, with two of the nation's top three teams, and last year's regular-season champion in Florida and the SEC Tournament winner in Auburn.
The Tigers' offense has tried to make a series of it with eight runs in the first two games. It hasn't been enough in this Home Run Derby. Florida has hit five home runs in the first two games. Auburn has hit three against a team that came in the series with 13 shutouts and seven other games in which it allowed only a run.
Myers said he'll rely on pitching of starter Kaylee Carlson on Monday.
"This pitch I'm throwing right now is the most important pitch of the entire game. And when I get the ball back, this is the most important pitch. It's got to be location, it's got to be quality," Myers said.
Home runs came easily. Florida's Amanda Lorenz hit a 2-run homer in the third, but Cooper blasted a 2-run homer and Wallace added a solo shot to give Auburn a 4-3 lead after three.
Nicole DeWitt hit a 3-run homer for the Gators in the fourth, and Florida added a run in the fifth for a 7-4 advantage. Wallace's RBI single in the bottom of the inning cut it to 7-5 before Florida's Taylore Fuller hit one off the video board to make it 8-5 in the seventh.
Aleshia Ocasio did allow an earned run in four innings to improve her record to 9-0. Rachael Walters fell to 2-2.
"We hit the ball harder. We had better approaches at the plate," Myers said. "We did a better job of staying in the zone. But we've got to do more with the bottom part of the order."
Charles Goldberg is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @AUGoldMine