March 19, 2017
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AUBURN, Ala. -- Pinch runner JJ Shaffer scored on a sac bunt by Jonah Todd and a throwing error to complete the sweep and give Auburn baseball a 6-5 walk-off win over No. 5 Florida Sunday at Plainsman Park.
The victory is the seventh in a row for the Tigers (17-5, 3-0) and finished their first weekend sweep of Florida since 1987. It's the first time Auburn has started an SEC schedule 3-0 since 2010 and its first walk-off win since 2015 vs. Xavier.
"We weren't as clean at the start, especially with our pitching, but we just kind of hung in there and Calvin Coker got in the game and really settled it," Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said. "We had left some balls up there and Florida, you knew they were coming at some point, the quality of opponent they are. Calvin Coker got back to the bottom and we just kept grinding out at-bats. We saw another great starting pitcher and our guys deserve it as much as anybody. Again, these last two games could have gone either way but I sure am glad to see Auburn come out on top."
Tied at five in the bottom of the ninth, senior catcher Blake Logan led off the inning with a single up the middle and freshman Will Holland laid down a text book bunt down the right side for another base hit. Todd then sacrificed to the pitcher inducing the costly errant throw to third that allowed Shaffer to score the winning run.
Logan was 3-for-4. He tripled in the seventh and scored on a sac fly by Todd.
"Friday night I had a tough time. I was trying to do a little too much," Logan said. "I just got back to my approach, and that's to hit the ball to the middle of the field and react in. Like you said, Florida, they had arms, they had really good arms come at us. I just tried to stay within myself and just do whatever I could to help the team."
Auburn struck early on Jay Estes' first-inning double to left center that plated Bowen McGuffin. Estes tallied four doubles for the weekend. Florida then scored four in the third to take a 4-1 lead.
Florida shortstop Christian Hicks dropped a pop up in the bottom of the third allowing two runs to score and Daniel Robert came home on a subsequent wild pitch to tie the game at 4-4.
Florida (13-8, 0-3) reclaimed the lead at 5-4 on a sacrifice fly in the fifth.
Calvin Coker tossed a career-high four innings of shutout ball in relief, allowing just one hit and no walks. Andrew Mitchell pitched a scoreless ninth with two strikeouts to earn his fourth win of the season.
Gators starter Jackson Kowar allowed five runs (two earned) over six innings with five strikeouts and three walks. Frank Rubio took the loss to drop to 0-1.
Jonathan India and Deacon Liput each had two hits for Florida.
Auburn hits the road for the first time this season in a mid-week non-conference match up at Georgia Tech Tuesday at 5 pm CT.