Patterson’s blast sinks Ole Miss
Published 12:18 am Sunday, April 24, 2011
A high-scoring game. Some late-inning heroics. Just another day in the wild, wild SEC West.
Kevin Patterson’s three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning put Auburn ahead for good, and the Tigers went on to beat Ole Miss 9-7 Saturday in the series finale.
Auburn (22-17, 9-9 Southeastern Conference) took two out of three from the Rebels (24-17, 9-9) to move into first place in the Western Division. Auburn, Ole Miss, Arkansas and Alabama are all within a game of each other after Saturday’s action. Auburn, by virtue of its series win, owns the tiebreaker over Ole Miss.
“This is a huge win. If you look at the big picture of it, we are right in the thick of things in the SEC West,” said Auburn pitcher Slade Smith, who earned the win by allowing two runs in seven innings of relief.
Ole Miss jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the top of the second, but couldn’t hold on. Matt Tracy belted a three-run homer in the first and Alex Yarbrough drove in two more with a single in the second.
Yarbrough finished the game 3-for-5, while Matt Snyder also had two hits for Ole Miss.
“It’s disappointing to swing the bat that well, especially early, and not come away with the win,” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. “You have to tip your hat to Auburn, though. They kept swinging. We got behind some batters and they are too good offensively to fall behind them, because they make you pay for it.”
Auburn chipped away at its deficit, scoring single runs in each of the first five innings.
In the seventh, the Tigers put two on with one out for Patterson, who lifted a ball over the right field fence to give his team an 8-7 lead.
Wes Gilmer made it a two-run game in the eighth with an RBI single.
“I didn’t hit it great but I knew I got under it enough, I just didn’t know if I got enough to get it out,” said Patterson, who also walked twice, scored two runs and drove in another run with a groundout in the fifth inning. “We just keep playing hard. Our pitchers are pitching their butts off. You have to chip away when you can. You are not going to score nine runs an inning all the time.”