Vanderbilt's stingy pitching and big hits throughout the lineup let Auburn know how it is the No. 1 team in the nation Friday night.

Vanderbilt (24-3, 5-2 SEC) pulled off an 11-6 in Plainsman Park in the first meeting of the three-game weekend series.

The Commodores scored a run in the top of the second and didn't look back. They didn't allow Auburn to get more than within one run throughout the game as they scored 11 runs off 20 hits.

"Just a sloppy baseball game on our part," said head coach John Pawlowski.

Although Auburn (15-11, 2-5 SEC) managed to catch up 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth, Vanderbilt put up seven runs in the next two innings. Auburn couldn't answer back until the bottom of the eighth.

"We didn't make a lot of quality pitches when we needed to," Pawlowski said. "Mistakes were made on the mound, and that hurt us.

"Just too much to overcome tonight."

If there was a positive of the evening, it was that Auburn managed to prevent more damage from being done. Vanderbilt left 16 runners on base.

Although his team was able to get out of pressure situations, Pawlowski was disappointed nonetheless.

"How many times are you going to give teams opportunities before they come up with a big hit?" Pawlowski said.

Vanderbilt ace Sonny Gray picked up his sixth win of the year. He held Auburn's offense to four hits in five complete innings and struck out four. Overall, the Commodores' pitching staff held Auburn to nine hits.

Andrew Morris took the loss for Auburn as he threw three innings, gave up nine hits and three runs. The junior is now 1-2 overall.

Morris showed promise in the second inning when he found himself in a bases loaded, no out situation after Vanderbilt scored its first run of the game. Despite facing Aaron Westlake and Jason Esposito, the Commodores' No. 3 and No. 4 batters, respectively, Morris managed to end the inning by striking out both.

Dillon Ortman relieved Morris for the next 2.1 innings. He gave up three runs off four hits and struck out three. Ortman was then pulled in favor of Sean Ray for the following two-thirds of an inning. Ray gave up three runs off two hits.

Bradley Hendrix hurled the final three innings. He allowed four hits and two runs in the process.

The biggest hit of the night came off the bat up backup left fielder Bobby Andrews in the bottom on the ninth. As center fielder Connor Harrell tried to field the ball, he lost his footing and hit the ground. The ball rolled toward the warning track, allowing Andrews to earn a one-out triple off the hit.

The play appeared to be the start of a potential late-game rally since backup center fielder Jay Gonzalez drew a walk after Andrews.

Backup shortstop Zach Alvord hit a sacrifice grounder that scored Andrews to make it an 11-5 game. Backup right fielder Brooks Beisner then hit a single to center that scored Gonzalez. Designated hitter Dan Gamache was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second for Casey McElroy, the team's best hitter.

But the comeback effort abruptly ended as McElroy grounded out to second to end the game.

"All around, not a very clean game for us," Pawlowski said. "It's disappointing. It's disappointing for our fans. We've got to come back tomorrow and play better baseball."

That opportunity will come at 6 p.m. Saturday at Plainsman Park. Auburn's starting pitcher has not yet been selected.