Auburn walks off with win over UK baseball

Cats 1 1/2 games out of tournament heading into final series at Florida

By Mark Maloney / mmaloney@herald-leader.com

auburn 7, Kentucky 5
Auburn Kentucky
ab r h rbi ab r h rbi
Hargett 2b 2 1 0 0 Wright lf 5 1 0 1
Mummey cf 3 1 1 3 Burns 3b 4 2 2 2
Morris 1b 5 1 0 0 Bisson 2b 4 0 2 0
Jones rf 4 1 0 0 Glad 1b 5 0 1 0
Fletcher lf 4 2 2 4 Wade ss 4 0 1 0
McElroy ss 5 0 1 0 Wiley cf 3 0 1 0
Gilmer 3b 5 1 2 0 Kapteyn dh 4 1 1 0
Gamache dh1 0 0 0 Nidiffer c 4 1 1 1
Bowen c 2 0 0 0 Farris rf 4 0 2 0
Totals 31 7 6 7 Totals 37 5 11 4
Auburn 212 002 000—7
Kentucky 000 100 310—5
E—B. Jones (3), C. Wade (6). DP—Auburn 1Kentucky 1. LOB—Auburn 10, Kentucky 8. 2B—Gilmer (3), C. Farris (1). HR—Mummey (15), Fletcher 2 (16), A. Burns (6), M. Nidiffer (7). HBP—Mummey. SH—Bowen (1).
Auburn IP H R ER BB SO
Price W, 4-2 6 6 2 2 1 3
Hendrix2/33 2 1 1 0
Hubbard S, 11 21/32 1 1 1 1
Kentucky
Meyer L, 1-4 22/33 5 5 7 6
Darnell 52/33 2 2 4 5
Tilford2/30 0 0 0 1
HBP—by L. Darnell (Mummey). PB—M. Nidiffer (11).
Umpires—Home, Kevin Assman; First, Nelson Graham; Third, A.J. Lostaglio.
T—3:09. A—2,040.
UK at Florida
When: Friday through SundayWhere: Gainesville, Fla.Radio: WLAP-AM 630
SEC standings
East
SEC GB ALL
Florida 17-10 — 35-17
Georgia 15-11 11/2 34-16
South Carolina 14-13 3 32-19
Vanderbilt 12-14 41/2 31-21
Kentucky 11-16 6 26-24
Tennessee 8-19 9 22-29
West
Louisiana St. 18-9 — 38-14
Mississippi 18-9 — 38-14
Alabama 17-9 1/2 35-15
Arkansas 14-12 31/2 31-17
Auburn 9-18 9 28-24
Mississippi St. 7-19 101/2 22-28
Sunday's games
Auburn 7, Kentucky 5
South Carolina 15, Tennessee 6
Alabama 6, Arkansas 5
Florida 9, Louisiana State 3
Georgia 4, Vanderbilt 3
Mississippi 8, Mississippi State 1

Kentucky has walked this walk before.

Although the Wildcats outhit Auburn 11-6 Sunday, UK pitchers walked 11 and hit one to help the visiting Tigers take a 7-5 Southeastern Conference victory.

Auburn (28-24, 9-18 SEC) avoided a three-game sweep and 10th straight league loss.

UK (26-24, 11-16) saw its chances of qualifying for the eight-team SEC Tournament (May 20-24 at Hoover, Ala.) left hanging by a thread.

With one weekend of league play left, at Florida, the Cats are in ninth. No. 8 Vanderbilt maintains a 11/2-game lead on UK.

"If we've got a mathematical chance going down to Gainesville, we'll be grateful for the opportunity," UK Coach Gary Henderson said. "We'll go down and do the best we can."

Sunday, freshman right-hander Alex Meyer (1-4) walked seven and struck out six over 22⁄3 innings. He gave up five runs on three hits, including two-run homers by Trent Mummey in the first inning and Brian Fletcher in the third. Both homers were preceded by walks.

Logan Darnell kept UK close with 52⁄3 innings in relief. He surrendered three hits, including Fletcher's second two-run homer, this one preceded by a hit batsman. He fanned five and walked four.

Auburn led 5-0 after three innings, 7-1 after six.

"You put yourself that far behind early in the game, it makes it really hard," Henderson said. "And you make it really easy for the other team to score when you give them that many free passes."

Meyer, rated by Baseball America as the second-best prospect in this season's class of collegiate freshman, has now pitched 27 innings, with 26 walks and 30 strikeouts.

Justin Hargett led off the game with the first of his three walks. Mummey followed with a homer, his 15th, to the deck in right-center.

Mummey also drew a bases-loaded walk in the second.

Meanwhile, Tigers freshman Dexter Price (4-2) held the Cats hitless until Andy Burns led off the fourth with a first-pitch homer. .

"This team is accustomed to being in close games, and we're going to fight until the last out," Burns said. "That's what we've been doing, and that's what we're going to continue to do."

UK scored three in the seventh. A fielder's choice and singles by Burns and Gunner Glad drove in the runs.

Marcus Nidiffer's two-out solo homer in the eighth cut Auburn's lead to 7-5.

"We were behind a lot of hitters," said Nidiffer, the catcher. "We competed and tried to come back. I thought we were going to. ... It just didn't turn our way."

In the ninth, Burns walked and Chris Bisson singled to bring the potential winning run to the plate with one out.

Glad, who had key hits in both UK wins Saturday, grounded into a double play.

"Hopefully we'll catch some breaks and go down to Florida and beat them two out of three," Nidiffer said, "and head to Hoover."