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Auburn beat Samford 9-4 last night on a drizzly night in Birmingham. Unlike prior Auburn/Samford games I've attended, this game was played on Samford's campus. Birmingham-based Auburn fans swamped cozy Joe Lee Griffin Field, turning the road trip into something of a home game. It was an Auburn Family reunion for me as I saw childhood friends, fraternity brothers, and friends from around town.
Samford's Heath Quinn drew first blood, hitting a 380' blast off Rocky McCord in the bottom of the first. Auburn responded in the third with a two out rally. Anfernee Grier hit a sharp double down the left field line. Damon Haecker drove him in with a single. Auburn gave the run back half an inning later.
After that, it was all Tigers. Auburn scored two the old fashioned way in the top of the fourth. Birmingham native Daniel Robert led things off with a double. Melvin Gray then channeled Craig Biggio by getting hit by a pitch on a 2-2 count. Kyler Deese drove Robert in. Later, Gray reached home on a deep foul ball by Ben Craft. Auburn drove two more across in the fifth, highlighted by doubles from Grier and Gray. Auburn put things away in the seventh inning, driving in three more. The dagger was Deese's deep home run to right center which scored two. As he rounded third, the remaining, soggy fans chanted, "waaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrr eagle, hey!"
A lightning delay in the 8th drove most of the fans to their cars but Auburn won handily, 9-4.
Rocky McCord picked up the win, giving up 8 hits and 3 runs in 5.0 innings. Justin Camp was credited with a save, closing out the last 1.1 after the lightning delay.