Auburn launches a record 7 home runs in comeback victory
Before Saturday, John Pawlowski had seen his team hit a program-record 102 home runs in 2009 and another 83 in the Tigers’ first 46 games of this season.
Even for him, though, what happened in the Tigers’ 16-14 victory over Mississippi State at Plainsman Park was enough to render the talkative Auburn coach speechless in the jovial postgame huddle in left field.
The Tigers, down 9-0 in the second inning, rallied with three runs in the second, one in the third and six apiece in the fifth and seventh innings to tie its biggest comeback in program history, thanks largely to a school record seven home runs.
After collecting his thoughts for a second, Pawlowski looked past the longballs, past the decent relief pitching after the first two innings and past the gusty winds that may or may not have aided in the slugfest, which resulted in an SEC record 11 combined home runs.
He focused, instead, on a theme he’s come back to multiple times throughout the season.
“The biggest thing,” Pawlowski said, “is the perseverance of this club.”
That perseverance helped Auburn clinch its fourth consecutive SEC win, third consecutive series victory and put the Tigers one step closer to a return to Hoover. A win today would give Auburn its first sweep over Mississippi State since 1987 and its first home sweep of any SEC opponent since 2002.
“It’s just one of those games that shows you that we’re never out of a ballgame,” left fielder Brian Fletcher said. “We’re going to keep working hard to get back in it.”
Mississippi State, which came into Saturday losers of nine straight, followed Auburn’s lead from the night before, peppering freshman Slade Smith for five runs on five singles in the first inning. Luke Adkins launched a two-run home run with no outs in the second to chase Smith and Russ Sneed followed with a two-run shot of his own off Zach Blatt to stake the Bulldogs to their seemingly comfortable lead.
Making matters worse, Auburn’s first three hitters of the game struck out.
“We have no absolutely nothing going in the dugout,” Pawlowski said. “And then next thing you know we keep chipping away.”
It started with catcher Ryan Jenkins’ three-run home run to left field, which cut the lead to 9-3. After the teams traded runs in the fourth, the comeback really gained steam in the fifth, when Fletcher, Hunter Morris and Kevin Patterson hit back-to-back-to-back home runs and Dan Gamache followed one batter later with a two-run home run in what eventually became a six-run inning.
“They gave us a lot of pitches up,” Gamache said, “so we drove them out.”
They stayed up in the seventh inning, apparently, as Casey McElroy and Gamache hit back-to-back home runs to give Auburn its first tie, 13-13. Fletcher’s two-run double, which barely missed clearing the high wall in left field, gave the Tigers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Mississippi State added a meaningless run in the ninth, giving it runs in seven of Saturday’s innings, but Austin Hubbard closed it out with a strikeout for his sixth save of the season.
Ironically, leadoff hitter Justin Fradejas was the only Auburn starter to go without a hit, effectively ending his 27-game hitting streak – the only bad news to come out of Saturday’s game.
“A lot of positive things going on in that dugout,” Pawlowski said. “A lot of perseverance in that dugout today.”
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