After an emotional Southeastern Conference series at Arkansas last weekend, the Auburn baseball team didn’t have extravagant goals for Tuesday night’s game against Georgia State.
The only goal was a simple one: Just win. Nothing less, nothing more.
The Tigers came through, posting a workmanlike 9-6 victory. It was AU’s seventh in the last 10 games. It was far from the smoothest victory in that stretch.
“It wasn’t real pretty, obviously,” AU head coach Tom Slater said.
Auburn (21-12) tied a season high with 10 walks. Four of the five relievers who pitched Tuesday allowed at least one run.
It wasn’t the kind of performance Slater or pitching coach Butch Thompson wanted to see on the mound. And it certainly wasn’t expected: Auburn’s pitchers allowed just five walks in three games at Arkansas.
“Our pitchers have been doing great,” Slater said. “For the last 14 games, we have really pitched well, and that’s why we’ve been in as many games as we’ve been in.
“Tonight we didn’t. That’s the bottom line.”
Auburn reliever Luke Greinke (3-2), the only AU pitcher not to issue a walk, allowed one run in two innings in his first appearance since being sidelined by shoulder tendonitis. Slater liked what he saw from the right-handed junior, who began the season in Auburn’s starting rotation.
“His arm was quick tonight,” Slater said. “He turned it around pretty well. That’s what we wanted to see.”
Georgia State (18-12) took a 4-2 lead in the top of the third inning. But Auburn responded in the bottom of the inning with two runs off GSU starter Kenny Camp.
The Tigers added three runs in the fourth against reliever Joel Reeves (1-1). After Matt Hall scored on an error to give AU a 5-4 lead, Brian Fletcher followed with a two-run single.
AU took a 9-4 lead with two runs in the fifth. GSU narrowed the gap with a run in the sixth off Paul Burnside and one in the ninth against Evan Crawford.
Burnside made his second appearance of the season, but his recovery from a broken collarbone is far from finished. Slater said the junior’s velocity was “not close” to full speed.
Auburn hosts Mississippi Valley State at 6 p.m. tonight and begins a three-game series against South Carolina on Friday.

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