In SEC play, no less.
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Published: March 22, 2008
The Auburn baseball team entered this weekend’s series against Kentucky with its back against the wall.
Fresh off three consecutive losses at Florida to open the Southeastern Conference schedule, the Tigers needed some positive momentum. Three games against Kentucky — which entered this weekend with an unbeaten record and the nation’s longest win streak — loomed.
There didn’t appear to be much reason for optimism.
Two games later, the Tigers are riding high.
Saturday’s 7-5 win against 16th-ranked Kentucky gave AU a 2-0 series lead. The Tigers head into today’s series finale with a chance at their first SEC sweep since 2003.
Sophomore Joseph Sanders was a high-school freshman then. And while he’s happy to pick up a series win, he is ready to snap that sweepless streak now.
“It’s huge to get a series win,” Sanders said. “We need to come out here and definitely try to get the sweep tomorrow.
“We haven’t been able to finish a sweep since we’ve been here. It’d be nice to get a sweep, get three wins in the SEC.”
Auburn (14-8, 2-3 SEC) won Friday’s game with clutch pitching and just enough hitting, shutting out Kentucky’s SEC-best offense in a 2-0 win.
Saturday’s game followed a different plan.
Auburn led, 1-0, in the top of the fourth inning when Kentucky (19-2, 3-2) finally found its offense. Brian Spear and Sawyer Carroll singled to start the inning.
With the heart of the Kentucky order coming up and nobody out, Auburn starter Cory Luckie (3-2) needed a break.
Junior shortstop Matt Hall had just the thing.
Hall perfectly executed a hidden-ball trick against Spear, catching the senior leading off second base. The trickery snapped Kentucky’s momentum and blunted the rally; the Wildcats didn’t manage a run in the inning.
“It was perfect timing,” Sanders said. “It killed their rally for sure.”
Luckie admitted he was a little nervous.
“Whenever he comes to me with a man on second base and the ball’s in his glove, I’m thinking, ‘Oh God, it’s coming,’” Luckie said with a laugh. “He didn’t drop the ball in my glove, so I was like, ‘All right. Here we go.’”
The play bought AU some breathing room, but Kentucky came back with four runs in the top of the fifth. Trailing, 4-1, the Tigers needed more than defensive trickery.
Sanders came through.
With the bases loaded and two out, Sanders hammered an 0-1 fastball from Kentucky reliever Andrew Albers (4-1) into left field, clearing the bases and tying the game.
“It was a big moment in the game,” Sanders said. “I got up to the plate and I was ready to do what I needed to do to get some runs across.”
Freshman Hunter Morris hit a two-run single in the sixth to give AU a 6-4 lead, and Sanders added an RBI single to push the lead to 7-4.
Kentucky threatened again in the seventh. Chris Wade and Troy Frazier opened the inning with singles. But Luckie forced three consecutive groundouts — the second scored Wade from third — to end the inning.
Luckie finished with five strikeouts in eight innings.
“Nothing really bothers the kid,” Slater said. “He has a lot of confidence.”
Former Central star Bryan Woodall pitched a scoreless ninth for his eighth save, his second of the series.