With the start of the Southeastern Conference schedule a week away, Auburn baseball coach Tom Slater is tinkering with his pitching rotation.

The Tigers are in the midst of a nine-day stretch in which they’ll play eight games. That’s the kind of pace that can exhaust all but the deepest pitching staffs.

So for Thursday’s game against VMI, Slater opted to experiment: He turned to redshirt freshman Grant Dayton, a reliever through the first two weeks of the season.

Dayton’s first career start was a memorable one: He shut down VMI’s offense for six innings in a 9-3 AU win. And his performance might have earned him a spot in the Tigers’ starting rotation.

“Grant certainly made a case for himself to be a regular starter tonight,” Slater said. “It’s just pitching. Throwing strikes is the name of the game, and he certainly did it.”

Dayton (1-0) threw a career-high six innings and finished with eight strikeouts, the most by any AU pitcher this season. He earned a noisy ovation from the Plainsman Park crowd at the end of the sixth inning, then received a more reserved reaction from Slater in the dugout.

“He just said, ‘Great job,’” Dayton said with a smile. “He’s into the game so he’s not going to sit there and have a conversation with me.

“I could tell he was pleased. We were all pleased.”

The redshirt freshman allowed just one run, on an inside-the-park home run by VMI’s Mike Roberts in the sixth inning.

That play was a fluke: Roberts hit a line drive at AU center fielder Luke Greinke, who misjudged the ball, then slipped on the outfield grass attempting to reach back for the catch.

The ball rolled to the wall, and Roberts scored easily — despite slipping on the basepath between third base and home plate.

It was practically the only time all night a bounce didn’t go Auburn’s way.

AU (7-4) started the night in style, with a six-run first inning against VMI starter Jason Farley (1-1). The Tigers added a run in the fifth and two in the sixth and finished with nine hits.

“I thought our at-bats were pretty quality throughout the night,” Slater said. “I was happy with the at-bats for the most part.”

Auburn’s Mike Bianucci drove in two runs, but finished 0-for-2 with two strikeouts. That ended a 16-game hitting streak dating back to last season.

VMI (4-4) scored a run in the eighth against reliever Taylor Thompson and tacked on another in the ninth against Bryan Woodall.

The series continues at 6 p.m. today. Right-hander Bradley Hendrix (0-0, 3.00 ERA) will start for Auburn against VMI lefty Trey Barham (1-0, 2.38).

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