AUBURN UNIVERSITY BASEBALL: Long balls, timely pitching power Tiger sweep
Perhaps on a weekend that featured a combined 64 runs and 19 home runs, it was fitting that clutch pitching from an unexpected source would prove to be the difference in Auburn’s first home SEC sweep since 2002.
In his first relief appearance at Auburn, embattled lefthander Cole Nelson escaped a seventh-inning jam with a timely strikeout and worked a scoreless eighth to help the Tigers fend off Mississippi State, 11-8, before 2,594 fans Sunday at Plainsman Park.
“I like starting,” Nelson said. “But any time they want me to throw, I’m fine with it. Whatever the coaches want me to do.”
Nelson’s unexpected trip out of the left-field bullpen helped Auburn (33-15, 15-9 SEC) wrap up a historic weekend against the woebegone Bulldogs (20-28, 5-19). The Tigers’ victory, their fifth straight against SEC competition, marked their first sweep over Mississippi State since 1987, put them one back of Arkansas for first place in the SEC West and set their magic number at two for making the SEC Tournament for the first time since 2003.
Auburn, which will likely become a consensus top-15 team in the nation after this weekend, is in good position to host an NCAA regional if it finishes the season as strong as it’s playing now.
Coach John Pawlowski remained level-headed about the Tigers’ recent ascent through the standings, even though it would now take a monumental collapse for his team to miss out on the postseason.
“We’re trying to take care of business,” Pawlowski said. “Our goal is to get to the SEC Tournament.”
So once Auburn does clinch with a win, or even a couple losses from current ninth seed Alabama, then what?
“Then we move on to Objective No. 2,” Pawlowski said with a smile.
Auburn stuck to the plan that developed over the first two games of the series, touching up a battered Mississippi State pitching staff for nine runs through the first five innings to take a 9-4 lead.
Brian Fletcher, who went 7-for-14 over the weekend, hit home runs in the second and third innings and Kevin Patterson launched the longest home run at Plainsman Park this season in the fifth to give the Tigers 12 home runs for the weekend. Auburn, at 92 home runs for the season, is just 10 shy of the program record it set last season.
“That’s kind of nice to do that,” Pawlowski said. “We put some good swings on it this weekend and I was excited to see a lot of different guys up and down the lineup contribute.”
Still, the Tigers actually needed some pitching to send the Bulldogs, who scored 28 runs over the weekend, to their 11th straight loss.
Mississippi State rallied to within a run in the seventh inning after Ryan Collins’ RBI single off Michael Hurst. With Auburn’s bullpen tapped from Saturday’s 16-14 slugfest, Pawlowski summoned Nelson, who was stellar as a starter through the early part of the season, but was booted from the rotation after a string of poor starts.
With runners at second and third, Nelson struck out pinch hitter Jet Butler on three pitches to end the Bulldogs’ penultimate threat. After Nelson’s scoreless eighth, Mississippi State loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth inning against closer Austin Hubbard, who escaped the jam with a strikeout, pop-up and tapper back to the mound.
“I knew Hubbard was going to come in and do a great job, so it was fine,” Nelson said. “It just felt good to be out there.”
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