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May 23, 2017
Hoover, Ala. - Auburn catcher Blake Logan hit a solo home run to break a tied game and junior Casey Mize pitched six strong innings of relief in the Tigers' 5-4 win over Ole Miss in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament at the Hoover Met Tuesday.
Auburn improved to 35-22 overall, while Ole Miss dropped to 32-25. The Tigers will face No. 1-seed Florida on Wednesday at 8 pm CT.
"That was fun SEC baseball," Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said. "We had a great Auburn crowd tonight and they made a big difference. I thought Keegan (Thompson) gave us enough to allow Casey to finish. It is so good to see Casey out there doing good work commanding the baseball. I never anticipated he would finish, but thankfully he did and did enough."
Mize (7-2) tossed six innings allowing just three hits and two runs while striking out nine batters on 77 pitches to pick up the win. His nine strikeouts were a career-high in relief.
"It's something that I'm not really used to this year, but I did a lot last year," Mize said. "I felt a lot better than I have in the past few weeks. I threw a lot of fastballs and splitters. I didn't throw one slider. I just stuck with that and it seemed to work for me."
With the game tied three apiece in the bottom of the sixth inning, Logan hit a 3-2 offering from Ole Miss reliever Will Stokes over the left field wall to give Auburn a 4-3 lead. It was Logan's third homer of the year.
"I was going to be a lot more patient than I was in my first at-bat," Logan said. "I chased a couple of pitches out of the zone, so I was a little bit more patient and selective. I got a hitter's count, 3-1, and took the pitch you are looking for on 3-1. I was like 'alright, get ready. It's probably coming again.' Then I just timed it up and was able to put a good swing on it."
The Tigers tacked on a run in the eighth to make it 5-3 as Luke Jarvis scored from third on a wild pitch after singling to lead off the inning.
Ole Miss center fielder Ryan Olenek hit a solo homer with one out in the ninth to close the gap to a run, but an outstanding defensive play by Jarvis at second and a Mize strikeout ended the game.
Auburn had two hits apiece from Logan, Jonah Todd and Conor Davis. Dylan Ingram extended his career-high 13-game hitting streak with a single in the seventh.
After Ole Miss scored in each of the first two innings, Auburn scored three two-out runs in the fourth inning to take a 3-2 lead.
After Sam Gilliken reached on a fielder's choice, Blake Logan singled and Will Holland followed with a RBI double down the left-field line plating Gilliken from second base for the Tigers first run of the game. Todd followed Logan's single lacing a 1-2 pitch over the head of Olenek in center field for a stand-up triple, scoring Logan and Holland.
Ole Miss tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the sixth on a throwing error by Ingram. Will Golsan led off the frame with a double and scored from second on Ingram's wild throw to first base on Nick Fortes' sacrifice attempt.
Auburn starter Keegan Thompson allowed two runs on four hits in three innings of work. Rebel starter Brady Feigl allowed three runs on five hits in 3 2/3 innings, while Stokes (2-2) took the loss.