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Auburn has had some trouble with midweek games over the last few seasons. That's been especially true when it comes to midweek games against teams from the state of Alabama. That was not the case over the last two days.
The Tigers played Alabama A&M Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, and they walked away with the 15-1 and 5-0 victories to improve the team's record to 6-3 on the season. Alabama A&M fell to 2-8.
Game 1 was a slugfest for the Tigers. Cody Nulph had a career high 5 RBIs and the Tigers picked up 10 runs in the 5th inning alone to seal the victory. Niko Buentello added three more RBIs to his already impressive yearly total on the way to the 15-1 victory. Four different pitchers took the mound, with Ben Braymer picking up the win in his two innings pitched.
Game 2 was much quieter for the Tigers' bats, but the pitching by starter Andrew Mitchell was stellar. He allowed one hit, no runs, and chalked up eight strike-outs in his 6 innings pitched. Three more pitchers took the mound for an inning a piece and the Bulldogs only picked up one more hit over the course of those innings.
It looked like a defensive battle for the first 3.5 innings, but Auburn picked up the first run on a Niko Buentello single that scored Anfernee Grier. That put Buentello up to 20 RBIs for the season, so far. Grier's two stollen bases put him at his career high for a single season and we're only through nine games.
Things really broke open in the 5th inning, though. Anfernee Grier picked up a two-out triple on a fly ball that landed just barely inside the right field line. It was only fair since he'd been cheated on a definite multi-base hit earlier in the same at bat when a ball that was clearly fair was ruled foul. Three runs in the 5th opened it up, and the Tigers picked up run #6 in the 6th inning thanks to a Jordan Ebert double to seal the deal and the 5-0 Auburn victory.
Auburn goes on the road for the first time this weekend to play in the Cox Diamond Invitational in Pensacola, FL. They'll play Troy Friday, Michigan State Saturday, and Southern Miss Sunday.