AUBURN, Ala. – Alex Petrovic turned in a complete game shutout as No. 10 Auburn run ruled Kentucky, 11-0, in seven innings to secure the series Sunday afternoon at Plainsman Park.
The series win marked Auburn’s 14th in the last 15 regular season home series dating back to the end of the 2024 season, including its eighth Southeastern Conference home series win during the span.
"A complete game,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “We played really good defense today, and Chase Fralick had a good weekend (behind the plate) all three games. He and Petro were in a good rhythm, a rocking chair type situation today."
Petrovic’s complete game was the first for the Tigers this season and the first since Samuel Dutton turned in 7.0 scoreless innings in a 10-0 win against Alabama on Apr. 4 of last season.
“I felt like I was in control,” Petrovic said. “It’s exactly where I wanted to be. A really good job filling the strike zone up and making the pitches I needed to make, being able to land offspeed pitches and keep them off balance. The fastball in was a big part of today’s success.”
En route to his sixth win of the season, Petrovic (6-1) retired the first 11 batters he faced and ultimately allowed just five hits with no walks and eight strikeouts, one shy of his career high.
“We didn’t walk a guy. He absolutely filled it up. You feel like you’re watching a professional pitcher with the poise and the stuff,” Thompson added. “It looked like he found a second wind for that seventh inning and was able to push to the finish line. The defense was great. The timing of Bub’s home run was huge. It was big to score first, have a big inning and start working on that starter.”
Offensively, the Tigers’ 11 runs and 14 hits were the second most in a SEC game this season, trailing only Friday’s total of 12 runs on 15 hits. All nine players in the lineup recorded a hit, capped off by Logan Gregorio’s grand slam in the fifth inning.
“It builds confidence. We’re a very talented group,” Gregorio said. “Baseball’s a game of failure and you fail often but when you get those shots where you hit it hard, it builds confidence and it’s going to allow us to keep going further from here.”
Auburn (24-11, 8-7 SEC) started the scoring on a leadoff walk, double and sacrifice fly from Chris Rembert four batters into the game. The Tigers added to the early advantage with a two-out, two-run home run from Bub Terrell.
Petrovic needed just 19 pitches, 16 of which were strikes, to get through the second and 20 pitches, 24 of which were strikes, to get through the third. He struck out four of the first six batters he faced.
Rembert came back around in the third and drove in his second run of the game on a RBI single back up the middle. The Tigers threatened for more but a pair of line drives to right field were snared just off the top of the grass to keep the score 4-0.
Petrovic retired the first 11 batters he faced before Kentucky (25-10, 7-8 SEC) registered a pair of two-out hits in the fourth. Both runners were stranded on a flyout to end the inning.
Leading 4-0, Auburn exploded for seven runs on six hits to extend its lead to 11 in the fifth. Rembert drove in his third run of the game on a single to right field, before Eric Guevara from third scored on a failed pickoff to first. The duo each went 3-for-4 in the contest. Two batters later, Ethin Bingaman drove in a run on a single back up the middle, and Gregorio followed Eddie Madrigal’s walk and Brandon McCraine’s single with a grand slam into the visitor’s bullpen, his second home run of the season.
“We just try to keep it simple,” Gregorio added. “I was just trying to stay middle on the fastball. Earlier in the game I felt myself getting too big, so I decided I wanted to stay simple and go back to the middle of the field.”
For the second straight rubber game, Auburn’s offense struck out just two times.
On the other side, Auburn pitchers struck out 31 and walked just four in the series, including only one after the sixth inning of Friday’s opener.
Auburn wraps up its homestand against Alabama State (18-16, 8-7 SWAC) Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT, marking the team’s final home midweek game of the season.