Tigers maul Rebels; take series
AUBURN | The bats are back in town.
No. 23 Auburn pounded out 13 hits including six for extra-bases in a 9-1 win over Ole Miss Friday night to clinch its seventh SEC series win of the season.
The Tigers, which improved to 34-21 overall and 16-13 in the SEC, will go for the sweep Saturday at 1 p.m. CT.
“I hope it builds a little more character in our ball club," said Auburn coach Butch Thompson of bouncing back from seven-game losing streak, "because immediately everybody goes to doomsday. I get that every day with communications to me and even the stuff that I read.
"Everybody is ready for the sky to fall again and I give these guys a lot of credit. What they did is they went back to work and I'm seeing some pretty neat things materialize now."
Davis Daniel (4-2) held Ole Miss to a run on four hits and tied a career-high with eight strikeouts in 6.1 innings to earn the win. He walked three on a career-high 106 pitches.
“I’m no more proud of anybody this year than to see what (Daniel) did tonight,” Thompson said. “This is another time he really stepped up. He moved up a day and we really put a very aggressive mindset with him and we threw a ton of fastballs.”
The freshman right-hander retired 10-straight batters before giving up a one-out single and walk in the seventh.
“Coming through the year you learn a lot and you learn to go to your best stuff when you need it,” Daniel said. “Today my best stuff was my fastball and I think it’s been my best stuff all year. I just really trusted it, which was big.”
Gabe Klobosits held the Rebels to three hits over the final 2.2 innings.
Conor Davis led Auburn with three hits including an RBI single in the fourth inning and a two-RBI double in the fifth. Jay Estes had a double and triple with two runs scored and one RBI.
“Everybody in the lineup was aggressive to the right pitches,” Estes said. “They weren’t overly aggressive. They were just aggressive enough.”
Jonah Todd and Blake Logan had two hits apiece. Josh Anthony was 1-of-4 with two RBI.
Ryan Rolison (6-3) took the loss allowing five runs on seven hits in 3.2 innings. Ole Miss falls to 31-24 overall and 13-16 in the SEC.
Saturday’s game will be on SECN+ and WatchESPN.
GAME NOTES
** With 16 conference wins, Auburn has clinched a winning conference record for only the second time since 2003. The 2010 team was 20-10.
** Auburn totaled 12 extra-base hits during its seven-game losing streak. It has 10 in two games against Ole Miss.
** Todd has reached base in 51 of 55 games this season. He hurt his hand during the game and was pinch-hit for in the seventh inning.
** Davis had two hits in his last 26 at-bats before going 3-of-5 Friday.
** Dylan Ingram extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a double in the fourth inning.
** Luke Jarvis, who started for the first time in seven games Thursday, sat out Friday’s game to rest his back. He could be back in the lineup Saturday.
** Junior left-hander Andrew Mitchell (5-3, 4.15 ERA) will start for Auburn Saturday.