Auburn leads from start to finish in series opener at Missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Auburn jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as the Tigers cruised to a 15-6 win in the series opener at Missouri Thursday night at Taylor Stadium.
 
Ryan Bliss, Rankin Woley and Kason Howell combined to go 11-for-17 with five runs, four doubles, three homers and 13 RBI in the game.
 
"Nobody has seen the ball as good as Rankin Woley has the last three weeks, and Ryan Bliss is consistent as all get out. Kason Howell pokes his head out tonight and hits two home runs on breaking balls with two strikes," head coach Butch Thompson said.
 
"We played some big offense and hopefully we can come back out here with the same mindset and be able to do that tomorrow," Thompson added. "We're in postseason baseball, so there's no other option than to come out and play, good consistent baseball."
 
Bliss and Woley led the way with four hits apiece, while Bliss and Howell each drove in a career best five runs in the contest. Howell hit two homers and had three extra-base hits in a game for the second time this season.
 
It marked the first time Auburn had multiple players with four hits and five RBI in the same SEC game since a 20-3 win at Georgia on Mar. 19, 2010.
 
"We linked up really well tonight, and when 1-9 is hitting and battling at-bats it's very hard to get us out," Bliss said. "We showed why we're are one of the best hitting teams in the SEC."
 
Jack Owen (2-4, 4.84) turned in one of his best starts of the year, earning the win while throwing 6.2 efficient innings. The senior lefty allowed two runs (none earned) on four hits with one walk and seven strikeouts.
 
"It was good to get those first couple zeroes and give my offense a chance to grow that lead," Owen said. "Once we got them down, the offense started exploding.
 
"We did a really good job of getting in front early and holding that lead," Owen added.
 
Auburn struck first in the top of the second as Cam Hill beat out an infield single and moved to third on Howell's 12th double of the season. Judd Ward opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly to left field before Bliss pushed the lead to 2-0 with a RBI double down the left field line.
 
Woley singled in the first and stayed hot from the plate with a solo homer to start the third. The home run was Woley's 10th of the year and his fourth in the last five games. The graduate third baseman continued his torrid streak with a RBI double in the fifth.
 
With the offense out to a 4-0 lead, Owen faced one over the minimum and struck out five while needing just 59 pitches in his first five innings of work. Three Missouri baserunners reached on a pair of singles and an error through five innings, and the Auburn defense turned a pair of double plays to erase two of the three Tigers.
 
Howell turned the Tigers' lead into a six-run advantage with a two-run homer in the sixth, marking his seventh homer since Mar. 16. Bliss collected his 26th multi-hit game of the year and drove in two more with a two-strike single back up the middle to make it 8-0.   
 
Owen struck out his sixth batter to start the bottom of the sixth and allowed a one-out walk and two-out single but worked around both baserunners to get through six scoreless.
 
Bliss stepped to the plate with one out and the bases loaded in the seventh and turned in his fourth RBI of the game on a single to left.
 
Missouri reached on a leadoff error to start the bottom of the seventh, and it came back to bite Owen and the Tigers as two runs came home on a homer later in the inning.
 
The Tigers blew the game open in the top of the eighth as Howell hit a three-run homer to left to push the led to 11-2. Bliss and Woley each notched their fourth hits of the game with a RBI double and single, respectively, later in the frame. Tyler Miller also drove in his SEC-best 59th run in the inning.
 
Missouri added two in the bottom of the eighth and two more in the ninth, but it was too little, too late for the fellow Tigers in the series opener.  
 
Game two between Auburn and Missouri is set for Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT.