GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 6 Auburn responded from an early three-run deficit to win the rubber game, 8-5, and claim the series at No. 7 Florida Saturday afternoon at Condron Family Ballpark.
The series win marked Auburn’s third straight and the program’s first in Gainesville since 2013. It marked the first time the Tigers won a series at Florida after dropping the first game since 1997.
“I thought we were off beat just a little bit to start the game, and you have to give the other team, their starter, some credit,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “They jumped us, but I think the turning point for us was Petrovic. It was the fifth before we got the leadoff man on and scored those first two runs on one hit. It was Alex Petrovic having enough moxie on the road against a team like this, a quiet confidence to settle into the ballgame.”
Auburn starter Alex Petrovic allowed three runs on a walk, single and three-run homer from Blake Cyr in the first, but the redshirt sophomore righty responded by keeping the Gators scoreless in his last six frames.
“It was just about execution,” Petrovic said of the last six innings of his outing. “Then talking with Coach Teaford and making sure we were doing the right things, going through the right processes and being able to execute.
Trailing by a run through seven innings, Bub Terrell hit a solo homer to tie the game, 3-3, on the first pitch of the eighth inning, marking his team-best ninth home run of the season and his third in the last five games.
“I talked to Coach Thompson before the game, and I told him, ‘It’s baseball. It happens.’ I told him I was mentally ready,” Terrell said. “The lineup wasn’t posted yet, but I just told him I was ready, and I wanted to win as much as anyone did. We’re a team, so if I wasn’t in there or if I was like today, I just wanted to win. They have my back and I have their back, and they believed in me so much today.”
After tying the game in the eighth, Auburn took advantage of a pair of Florida miscues to score five runs and take an 8-3 lead in the top of the ninth. The Tigers took the lead on a sacrifice bunt from Lucas Steele that was thrown down the right field line and extended the advantage on a two-run double from Brandon McCraine. Younger brother Mason McCraine then hammered his third home run in the last two games to right center to put an exclamation point on the big inning.
“This team has a lot of heart, especially on these rubber matches,” Petrovic added. “Anybody can win any game, but I love our chances every single day. Being able to be out there as long as I was, I’m all for these guys and I love every single one of them. I know we can bust out a five-running inning like that at any given moment.”
Florida (28-13, 10-8 SEC) struck first with a three-run home run from Cyr in the bottom of the first, his third home run of the series. Petrovic responded by retiring nine of the next 10 batters he faced and keep Florida from extending its lead through the fourth inning.
Auburn (27-12, 10-8 SEC) got on the scoreboard on a sacrifice fly from Terrell in the top of the fifth. However, Florida right fielder Hayden Yost made a sliding catch near the right field corner to avoid further damage for the time being. With the inning extended due to a leadoff error, Mason McCraine made the Gators pay for the second straight day with a two-out RBI single to right to make it a one-run game.
After allowing the home run in the first, Petrovic allowed just two baserunners the rest of his outing – a leadoff single erased on a caught stealing in the third and one-out walk in the fifth. He worked clean frames in the second, fourth, sixth and seventh innings and retired the last eight batters he faced. He ultimately allowed three runs on three hits with two walks and five strikeouts in 7.0 innings, marking his third start of 7.0 or more innings this season.
Down a run, Terrell stepped to the plate to leadoff the eighth 0-for-7 in the series. However, the sophomore outfielder slugged the first pitch he saw from Joshua Whritenour over the wall in right field to tie the game, 3-3.
The Auburn offense was held hitless in the first 4.2 innings and to just three hits through seven but exploded for six runs on six hits in its last two innings to seal the win. The game marked the Tigers’ fifth win this season when tied or trailing after eight innings.
Ryan Hetzler made his second appearance in as many days to start the eight and retired the first five batters he faced before allowing a single and two-run homer to Cyr to make it an 8-5 game. The single broke up a streak of 13 straight retired by Petrovic and Hetzler. However, the two-run homer for Florida was too little, too late as a lineout to first ended the game.
Auburn wraps up its four-game road trip with a matchup at Samford (18-18) at the Hoover Met Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT before returning to Plainsman Park to host No. 11 Oklahoma (25-12, 8-8 SEC) next weekend.