Thanks to a five RBI performance from [autotag]Lindsey Garcia[/autotag], the No. 19 Auburn Tigers cruised to a 10-0 victory over the Samford Bulldogs, Wednesday night in Birmingham.
Garcia crushed a home run and a double to lead the Tigers to their run-rule win over the Bulldogs. The five RBI ties a career-high and gives her a team-leading 31 on the season.
“I’m just always looking for a pitch I can hit down in the zone,” Garcia said. “I’m just trying to stay relaxed and confident in the box. I just want to help the team any way that I can in any spot in the lineup.”
The game was tight for the first three innings before Auburn (26-9, 4-2 SEC) took a commanding 6-0 lead in the fourth and added four more runs in the fifth to put the game away.
[autotag]Bri Ellis[/autotag] reached on a fielding error to start the fourth before [autotag]Aspyn Godwin[/autotag] blasted a two-run homer to left. The Tigers added two more runs before the Bulldogs were able to end the inning.
Ellis once again got on base to start the fifth inning, this time by walking. Three of the next four batters walked to drive in a run before Garcia cleared the bases with a double to make it 10-0 Auburn.
The Tigers had just five hits but four went for extra bases and they walked eight times.
“Samford has a solid pitching staff,” said head coach [autotag]Mickey Dean[/autotag]. “They aren’t going to blow it by you, but they are going to let you get yourself out. I thought our hitters showed a lot of maturity tonight going into deep count and having long at bats.”
[autotag]Maddie Penta[/autotag] (14-4) got the start for Auburn and pitched 4.0 no-hit innings, striking out eight Bulldogs and walking two. [autotag]Annabelle Widra[/autotag] came in to pitch the fifth and closed out the game. It is Auburn’s 15th shutout of the season.
Auburn took advantage of a miscue by Samford to open the scoring in the first inning. Leadoff hitter [autotag]Nelia Peralta[/autotag] walked to start the game and came around to score when Samford made a throwing error on a ground ball by [autotag]Carlee McCondichie[/autotag] that should have been the third out of the inning.
The Tigers added on in the third inning when Garcia smacked her seventh home run of the season to center field to make it a 2-0 Auburn lead.
The Tigers will return to SEC play Friday when they host the Ole Miss Rebels for a three-game series at Jane B. Moore Field. The games on Friday and Sunday will be streamed on SEC Netowork+ while Saturday’s will be on the SEC Network.
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