April 3, 2016
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The No. 3 Tigers (33-4, 9-3) swept No. 14/12 Kentucky (31-8, 8-4) on Sunday taking a 3-1 victory in the ninth inning at John Cropp Stadium. Auburn improved to 3-0 in extra-inning games this season and has won seven-straight conference games as they move into a tie for first place in the SEC standings.
"I'm really proud of our team," head coach Clint Myers said after the game. "You go on the road against a team like Kentucky and you win three at their place - that means a lot. We played quality ball for three straight days and now, the journey is really just starting. These are the type of weekends we can expect, and live for, from here on out."
Jenna Abbott delivered the go-ahead run by lining a double over the center fielder's head and driving in Jade Rhodes from first base. The errant throw home allowed Abbott to advance to third on the play and pinch runner Bree Fornis added an insurance run from Whitney Jordan's RBI groundout.
Sophomore Kaylee Carlson picked up the win for Auburn moving to 10-0 on the year and lowering her ERA to 0.98 as she came in relief during the fifth inning for senior Lexi Davis. Davis allowed just one run and four hits but had to settle for the no decision after Kentucky tied the game in the frame. Carlson entered the game with runners on first and third but escaped the jam while limiting the opposing lineup to a pair of hits the remainder of the game.
Jade Rhodes hit her 13th home run of the season to leadoff the second inning and make it 1-0.
Kasey Cooper had two hits going 2-for-3 in the game and extending her reached-base streak to 37 games this season. Leadoff batter Tiffany Howard also contributed a pair of hits going 2-for-4 in this contest.
UP NEXT
Auburn hosts Troy on Wednesday, April 6 at 6 p.m. before hosting Longwood for Pink Weekend April 8-10.
"This is something (breast cancer) that we can beat, we can cure," Myers said. "We just need the money and resources to get it done. We need the support of our fans for this weekend -- and we're also about a third of the way through to our goal of 10,000 pounds of food raised with our canned food drive. If we can go out, get some food donations and raise some money to beat breast cancer, it's going to be a great weekend for us. It's all about us giving back to the community with us."