April 19, 2016
Melvin Gray had two hits and two stolen bases Tuesday. (Auburn Athletics Photo)
AUBURN, Ala. ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" Cody Nulph was 3-for-4 with three RBI as Auburn baseball defeated Alabama State 11-2 on Tuesday at Plainsman Park.
"We played really good offense and were very consistent up and down the lineup," Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said. "Anfernee Grier and Melvin Gray at the top kept swinging the bat. Everyone had a pretty good night. Damon (Haecker) had a couple and Keaton Weisz got out there to turn the double play to end the game. Same thing with the pitching staff.
"All in all, there are some construction cones around. We are getting some work in. We played good offense and won our third in a row."
Grier led off the bottom of the first with his eighth home run of the season. The Tigers (18-19) added another three runs in the first on a RBI double from Blake Logan, a RBI double by Haecker and a sac fly from Jackson Burgreen to take a 4-0 lead.
Grier's bomb was the first leadoff homer for the Tigers since the Phenix City native accomplished the feat against LSU in May 2014.
Jordan Ebert's second homer of the season pushed the Auburn lead to 5-0 in the second. The home run was Ebert's 100th career RBI.
Alabama State (23-14) got on the board in the third with a pair of bases loaded passed balls to make it 5-2.
Izaac Yarbrough made the first start of his Auburn career. He completed 2.1 innings with two runs allowed. He struck out three and improved to 3-1 on the season in a split start.
Auburn pushed across two more in the third on a 2-run single by Nulph. It stretched the Tigers' lead to 7-2.
Gray scored on an error in the fourth. Nulph and Grier added RBI singles in the fifth for a 10-2 lead.
Gray had two hits and two stolen bases. Haecker has been on base each of his last 12 plate appearances.
Gabe Klobosits pitched two perfect innings out of the pen with five strikeouts. Daniel Sprinkle, Gordon Cardenas, Ben Braymer, Marc Frazier and Andrew Mitchell also pitched in relief.
JJ Shaffer had a pinch-hit double in the eighth that scored Niko Buentello.
Alabama State starter Hunter McIntosh dropped to 5-2 on the season. He allowed four runs in one inning.
Auburn opens a three-game series at Ole Miss on Friday at 6:30 p.m.