May 10, 2002

Box Score 

AUBURN, ALA.----Tug Hulett went 5-for-5 and drove in four runs while Scott Schade also added four RBI to lead Auburn to a wild 10-9 victory over Georgia Friday in front of 2,908 at Plainsman Park.

The Tigers (31-19, 13-12 SEC) had an answer for every Bulldog outburst including erasing an early 4-0 deficit as Georgia fall to 29-20 overall, 14-11 in the SEC.

Freshman Steven Register picked up the win, pitching the final two innings to improve to 3-0 while Jeffery Carswell drops to 5-4. Register allowed two runs on three hits and struck out the side in the ninth. Carswell surrendered two runs on five hits over the final 2.1 innings.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 4-0 lead on Auburn starter Colby Paxton in the second inning. Senior Matt Cavender singled to start the frame and then Justin McClain smashed his seventh home run of the season for a 2-0 advantage. The Bulldogs weren't done. Lee Mitchell followed with a single, took second on a sacrifice bunt by Marshall Szabo and then scored on a base hit by freshman catcher Clint Sammons. Sophomore Jon Armitage executed a hit and run with a double to left, scoring Sammons to make it 4-0.

The Tigers answered in their half of the second as freshman second baseman Tug Hulett doubled and then scored on a base hit by Scott Schade. In the third, Auburn trimmed it to 4-3 on a two-run double by Hulett. Georgia got one run back in the fourth. Sammons led off with a double, went to third on a base hit by Armitage and then scored when Chaz Lytle bounced into a double play.

Auburn grabbed the lead in the fifth with a couple of home runs of Georgia starter Matt Wodds. Sophomore Javon Moran started the scoring with his third homer on the year and with one out, Schade connected for a three-run shot to centerfield to put the Tigers in front 7-5. Georgia answered in the top of the sixth. Mitchell led off with his third hit of the evening, took second on another sacrifice bunt by Szabo. Armitage collected his third hit as well, a two-out single bringing Mitchell home and pulling the Bulldogs to within one at 7-6. The Tigers grabbed their two-run margin back when Hulett delivered a two-out run scoring single and after going to a 3-0 count on Schade, Woods was lifted in favor of senior Jeffery Carswell who came back to strike him out.

Georgia senior Adam Swann made it a one-run game again when he launched his 10th homer of the season, a one-out solo shot off starter Colby Paxton which ended his outing. The Tigers looked to Ken Clayton but he issued walks to Cavender and McClain before giving way to right-hander Mike Mueller. Mitchell and Szabo hit lasers to left but Sean Gamble made two excellent catches to maintain the Tiger edge. The Tigers again got the run back in their half of the seventh on a two-out base hit by Moran, giving him a four-hit evening and Auburn a 9-7 lead.

Georgia rallied back to tie the contest in the eighth after Sammons reached on an error and Armitage doubled to center to give him a four-hit game. Lytle came through with a two-run single to make it 9-9 but the Tigers came right back again to reclaim a 10-9 advantage in their half of the eighth courtesy of a leadoff double by Pratt and Hulett's fifth hit of the night, a run-scoring single to center.

The series continues Saturday with first pitch slated for 7:30 pm ET.