Any hopes of an upset came to an emphatic end in the fifth inning.
No. 12 Auburn erupted for eight runs in the fifth including a grand slam by Conor Davis in a come-from-behind 13-5 win over UAB Tuesday night at Regions Field in Birmingham.
The Tigers improve to 19-2 on the season with their 14th consecutive win.
"Our offense unloaded tonight in an inning," Auburn coach Butch Thompson told the Auburn Network. "Rankin Woley, I've been talking to him about his two-strike adjustment, and he just battled, dropped a two-strike hit in to extend the inning. And then Conor Davis had the big blow after we got the first four in."
Trailing 4-0 going into the fifth, Auburn sent 13 batters to the plate scoring eight runs on five hits, four walks, two stolen bases, one error and one wild pitch. A fielder’s choice ground ball by Matt Scheffler, RBI single by Will Holland, a wild pitch to score Scheffler and a RBI single by Woley tied the game 4-4.
After an Edouard Julien walk to load the bases, Davis drilled a 2-0 pitch well over the left field wall for Auburn’s first grand slam of the season.
"It wound up being a breaking ball that stayed up out over the plate and he was there on time," Thompson said. "It's really good to see him do this multiple weeks. He's showing more consistency."
The Tigers added three in the sixth on a two-RBI double by Julien and an RBI single by Ryan Bliss, one in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Woley and one in the eighth on an RBI groundout by Judd Ward.
Bliss was 3 of 4 with one RBI, Holland 2 of 5 with two runs scored and one RBI and Woley 2 of 5 with one run scored and two RBI. Davis was 1 of 4 with four RBI and Julien 1 of 5 with two runs scored and two RBI.
Bailey Horn (1-0) earned his first-career win holding UAB hitless for 3.0 innings out of the bullpen. He struck out two and issued one walk.
"It looked like some of his stuff had returned," Thompson said. "He got a big strikeout as soon as he got into the game, and that's what he'd had trouble getting started. He came in ready to pitch."
Richard Fitts allowed two hits in 1.1 innings, Will Morrison a run on two hits in 2.0 innings and Peyton Glavine threw a perfect ninth as the bullpen combined to hold the Blazers one run over the final 7.1 innings.
UAB struck for four runs off Auburn starter Garrett Wade in the second. The first came on a bases-loaded walk, Wade’s fourth of the game, followed by a double down the left field line and an error by left fielder Ward that cleared the bases.
Auburn returns to conference play this weekend at No. 4 Mississippi State. Game times for the series will be Friday at 6 p.m. CT, Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. All three games will be on SECN+.
