Alabama avoids sweep, hammers Auburn in finale

AUBURN — Auburn and Alabama both got something they wanted in Saturday’s regular-season finale.

Of course, both teams left Hitchcock Field hoping for more.

The Tigers got a series victory, clinched early when they stopped the Crimson Tide 3-1 in the resumption of Friday night’s game that was delayed by rain.

The Crimson Tide avoided a sweep later in the day. With their vaunted offense baffled by Auburn pitching through the first two games, the Tide ripped three home runs early, built an eight-run lead and cruised to a 13-3 victory in front of 2,714.

Auburn finished 31-25 overall, 11-19 in the Southeastern Conference. The Tigers will miss the SEC Tournament for the sixth straight year. They wanted a sweep of Alabama to enhance their case for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Tigers coach John Pawlowski didn’t sound like he’d be sitting by the phone.

“A lot of things are going to have to fall our way,” Pawlowski said when asked about conference tournaments. “Certainly, there can’t be any upsets. We want the top seeds, obviously, to win.”

Alabama (37-17, 18-11 SEC) was watching the scoreboard. Mathematically, the Tide could have won the league coming into the final weekend. But Jim Wells’ team managed just three runs in losses to the Tigers. Suddenly, Alabama needed a victory to avoid its first sweep by Auburn since 2001.

“Our confidence was down after the first two,” Alabama third baseman Jake Smith said. “It looked like somebody had stole our dog or whatever — walking around with our heads down. That’s not us. We’ve got swagger. We think we’re the best-hitting team in the country and we might be. But we know we are.”

To that point, Alabama had more stagger than swagger, but Kent Matthes provided a spark. He led off the second inning with a blast off the flag pole beyond the fence in right-center. It was his school record-tying 27th homer of the season.

“It’s a great honor with all the great players that come through here, all the power hitters,” Matthes said. “I’m glad I could do it my senior year and share it with these guys.”

Smith said Matthes’ jolt — surrendered by Dexter Price (4-3), the first of seven Auburn pitchers — “got us rolling.”

“It seems like one hit can get us going at any time,” Smith said.

Brandon May hit a single to center and Smith followed with a homer to left, his 18th of the season.

The Tide extended its lead with three more in the third. Matthes had an RBI base hit off reliever Bradley Hendrix’s first pitch. May walked and Smith had a two-run single to make it 6-0. The Tide made it 8-0 in the top of the fourth and scored five runs in the seventh inning.

That was more than enough for Tide left-hander Adam Morgan. Morgan (4-1) pitched all seven innings with 10 strikeouts and one walk. He gave up solo home runs to Auburn’s Brian Fletcher, Tony Caldwell and Joseph Sanders.

“Coach always says solo home runs won’t beat us,” Morgan said. “It didn’t really affect me at all.”

Not when they cut into an 8-0 lead.

“The best defense is offense,” Morgan said. “When you score that many runs, it’s just fun. The pressure’s not on at all.”

Alabama had 13 runs on 16 hits. Smith was 4-for-4 with five RBIs and two runs scored. Josh Rutledge was 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBIs. Matthes finished 2-for-3 with three runs and two RBIs.

Sanders had two of Auburn’s five hits, including his solo homer. That shot was his team-leading 18th of the season and his first since April 19. Sanders, who missed nearly a month with a broken jaw, returned to the lineup for the series.

It was the final game for Tiger seniors right fielder Ben Jones and pitchers Kris West and Paul Burnside, all of whom played.

“You just want to always have one more opportunity (to play),” Pawlowski said of his seniors. “We tried to get them in there if the situation merited it.”

Auburn 3, Alabama 1: In the completion of Friday’s game suspended by rain, Auburn’s Sean Ray pitched 5 1/3 innings of two-hit, shutout baseball to help the Tigers maintain their lead and clinch a series victory.

Ray extended his shutout streak to 19 innings.

Ray retired the final 10 Alabama hitters, although the Tide’s Alex Kubal singled off the wall in left but was thrown out at second by Brian Fletcher to end the game.

“Sean went out there and threw three pitches for strikes again,” Pawlowski said.

Neither team scored after the game was suspended by rain on Friday night with the Tigers leading 3-1.

Ben Jones’ RBI double gave Auburn a 1-0 lead, driving in Trent Mummy, who was hit by a pitch and stole second.

Alabama’s lone run came in the third. Clay Jones ripped a two-out double that scored Jake Smith from first. Smith reached on starter Grant Dayton’s only walk in his 3 2/3 innings.

Auburn broke the 1-1 tie with two runs in the bottom of the third. Auburn regained the lead on four straight two outs hits, including RBI singles by Tony Caldwell and Casey McElroy.