Auburn Tops Kennesaw State, 8-3
By: Josh Rultenberg
Updated: March 13, 2013
KENNESAW, Ga. - Auburn took advantage of eight walks and four hit batters to claim an 8-3 win over Kennesaw State on Tuesday night at Stillwell Field. The win improved Auburn's record to 13-3 and extended its winning streak to seven while Kennesaw State fell to 9-8.
"We set the tone very early. We jumped out and scored a run in the first and again in the second, third and fourth and really did a good job of setting the tone today and then we did a good job of handling the baseball," Auburn Head Coach John Pawlowski said.
Auburn did all of its scoring early, scoring once in the first, three times in the second and third and once again in the fourth to build the 8-0 advantage.
Auburn capitalized on four walks, two hit batters and just one hit to take a 4-0 lead after the top of the second. Ryan Tella drove in a run in the first with a RBI groundout to give Auburn the quick 1-0 lead. In the second it was Jackson Burgreen singling in a run, Dan Glevenyak getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to drive in a run, and Tella hitting into a fielder's choice to drive in the fourth run of the game.
Auburn extended the lead to 7-0 in the third on a walk, three singles, a hit batter and a pair of sacrifices. Cullen Wacker led off the inning with a walk and went to third on a Garrett Cooper single. Damek Tomscha scored Wacker with a single and then he and Cooper were sacrificed over to third by a Blake Austin bunt. Jordan Ebert followed with a sac fly to score Cooper and two batters later Glevenyak singled home Tomscha for the seven run advantage.Auburn closed out its scoring in the fourth as Patrick Savage singled and scored on a Tomscha groundout.
Dillon Ortman (1-1) earned the win out of the Auburn bullpen, tossing four innings and allowing two runs on six hits.
Kennesaw State starter Jordan Hillyer (1-1) took the loss, allowing four runs (three earned) on one hit and four walks in 1 1/3 innings.
Austin extended his career-best hitting streak to eight games with a sixth-inning, two-out single while Jordan Ebert went hitless to end his hitting streak at 13 games.
Junior Will Kendall started on the mound for Auburn and recorded two strike outs in a scoreless inning. The outing was his first since April 7, 2012 at Alabama, after which he underwent Tommy John surgery.
Auburn returns home to open up Southeastern Conference play this weekend when No. 2 Vanderbilt comes to Plainsman Park. Game times for the series are 6pm on Friday, 2:15pm on Saturday and 1pm on Sunday. Saturday's game will air live on SportSouth while Friday and Sunday will be available on AUHD at auburntigers.com. All three games will be available on the Auburn Baseball Radio Network affiliates.
Auburn 8, Kennesaw State 3 (Mar 12, 2013 at Kennesaw, Ga.)
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Auburn.............. 133 100 000 - 8 7 0 (13-3)
Kennesaw State...... 000 012 000 - 3 10 2 (9-8)
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Win-Dillon Ortman(1-1) Save-Justin Camp(1) Loss-HILLYER, Jordan(1-1) T-2:57 A-1015
