AUBURN, Ala. – Someone was going to pay for Florida blowing a 7-1 lead and losing to Auburn, 8-7, in 11 innings Saturday to complete a Southeastern Conference game suspended from Friday because of an area-wide tornado warning.
Coach Kevin O’Sullivan’s Gators made sure that the Tigers would be responsible for the payback, scoring 21 runs in their final four at-bats on the way to a 24-2 victory at Plainsman Park. The 24 runs and 20 hits are both season highs for the No. 22 Gators (22-12 overall, 8-6 SEC East).
Auburn (23-11, 7-7 SEC West) and Florida conclude a 3-game series Sunday at 2 p.m.
After the Florida bullpen was roughed up in the continuation of the first game of the series Saturday, surrendering four of Auburn’s five home runs in the game, senior left-hander Stephen Locke (1-0) scattered 10 hits and two walks and allowed just two earned runs while striking out six Tigers over eight innings. Greg Larson had a 1-2-3 ninth.
Meanwhile, Florida’s lineup roughed up four Auburn pitchers, knocking out starter Jon Luke Jacobs in the midst of a 7-run sixth inning that gave the Gators a 10-2 lead. Florida had a season-high 9-run seventh inning and capped off the game with a 5-run ninth against relievers Michael Hurst, Rus Harper and Zach Blatt.
Seventeen of the 24 Florida runs were earned.
Florida’s 20-hit attack featured a two-homer, five-hit performance (in six at-bats) by sophomore Josh Adams, who knocked in six runs. Jonathan Pigott went 2-for-2 with a grand-slam homer in the ninth. Catcher Teddy Foster went 3-for-5 with a homer and 3 RBI. Avery Barnes also had 3 RBI with two hits. Mike Mooney and Daniel Pigott each had two hits and 2 RBI as O’Sullivan had a chance to empty his bench.
Freshman first baseman Preston Tucker, who entered the weekend on a 10-for-12, 6-homer, 20-RBI tear in his last three games, went 4-for-11 during the two games, knocking in four runs, two in each game.
Adams hit a 2-run home run in the fourth inning to give Florida a lead it would never surrender. A RBI single by Barnes gave Florida a 3-1 in the fifth inning.
Adams’ 2-run home run and a 2-run double by Mike Mooney highlighted a 7-run sixth that made it 10-2. Adams’ 2-run double and Foster’s 2-run homer in the seventh highlighted the 9-run seventh.
Jonathan Pigott’s grand slam in the ninth was Florida’s third of the week. Tucker had a pair in his 3-HR, 11-RBI performance in a 16-3 victory over Central Florida Wednesday at McKethan Stadium.
In the opener, Justin Hargett hit a walk-off, solo homer with one out in the bottom of the 11th to complete Auburn’s comeback from a 7-1 deficit. Florida had led 5-1 Friday night when the game was suspended and tacked on two more runs for a 7-1 lead, but the Gators’ bullpen couldn’t hold off Auburn.
Junior Joseph Sanders, who went 3-for-5 with 3 RBI and two home runs, had a two-out RBI double in the ninth that tied the game at 7-7. Hargett’s homer made a winner out of sophomore Bradley Hendrix (6-2), who threw two scoreless and hitless innings for Auburn. The loss was suffered by Florida freshman Alex Panteliodis (2-4).
The two teams combined for seven home runs, five by the Tigers. Avery Barnes and Matt den Dekker each homered before the suspension Friday night, den Dekker’s homer part of a 3-for-5 game. Barnes, Adams, Munroe, Mooney and Tucker had two hits each in Florida’s 14-hit attack against three Auburn pitchers – starter Grand Dayton and relievers Chris O’Neil and Hendrix.
Auburn had only 10 hits off six Florida pitchers, but five of the hits were home runs – two by Sanders, who had a solo blast in the fourth inning and another solo homer to lead off the sixth that began the Tigers’ comeback. Brian Fletcher followed later in the sixth with a two-run homer. Ben Jones had a two-run homer in the eighth inning to bring Auburn within one, 7-6, and finally Hargett’s game-winner in the 11th inning, which came on a 1-1 pitch. Jones and Fletcher each finished with two hits.
Florida jumped in front 3-0 on Friday in the fourth innings. Barnes hit his fifth homer of the season to lead off the inning against Dayton. Adams followed with a double and scored on Tucker’s single. Tucker eventually got to third and scored on Munroe’s groundout.
Florida junior right-hander Jeff Barfield started and retired his first 10 batters before Sanders hit his 15th homer to deep left in the fourth. That would be the only hit allowed by Barfield, who struck out four and did not return when the game resumed on Saturday.
Florida went up 4-1 in the top of the fifth when den Dekker hit a one-out solo homer, his fifth of the season. Daniel Pigott then singled up the middle just before the tornado sirens wailed and the game suspended at 7:56 Eastern time.
When the game resumed, Chris O’Neil was on the mound for Auburn. Barnes singled to right to join Pigott on the bases and Adams delivered his second double of the game to score Pigott and Tucker delivered an RBI groundout for a 6-1 lead.
Auburn got the bases loaded with none out against reliever Nick Maronde, but the left-hander struck out two batters around a pop up.
Florida made it 7-1 in the sixth when Munroe doubled and was sacrificed to third by Riley Cooper. Mooney then hit a sacrifice fly to provide the Gators with their final run of the game.
But Maronde would yield three home runs over the next 2.2 innings and Auburn would pull within one, 7-6, going into the bottom of the ninth. Sanders’ double in the ninth off junior Billy Bullock scored Trent Mummey with the game-tying run.
Florida travels to Tallahassee Tuesday night for the rubber game of its three-game season series with Florida State. The Gators beat the Seminoles on St. Patrick’s Day, 5-4, in Gainesville, but Florida State came back to win a rain-shortened game, 3-2, at the Baseball Grounds in Jacksonville in late March. The first pitch Tuesday is at 6 p.m.
The Gators then return home Wednesday to play Stetson in a 6:30 p.m. game that was postponed earlier this season by rain. Florida then begins a three-game SEC series at McKethan Stadium with Mississippi next Friday at 6:30 p.m.