BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford baseball team dropped a 9-4 decision to Auburn Tuesday night at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
"This was one of those days where we just got beat," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "I didn't think we played that poorly. I thought we played sound defensively, I thought we had some good at-bats and I thought we pitched well at times."
 
For Samford offensively, Heath Quinn went 3-for-5 with a home run and one RBI. Alex Lee also went 3-for-5 for the Bulldogs. Jared Watson, Hunter Swilling and Danny Rodriguez also drove in a run each for Samford.
 
Jesse Travis (0-2) pitched 1.0 inning in relief, giving up two runs on three hits to take the loss on the mound for Samford. Tristan Widra started the game and tossed 4.0 innings, giving up three runs on five hits. Cole Limbaugh, Philip Flach and Mikel Belcher also pitched in the game for Samford.
 
Auburn was led at the plate by Kyler Deese, going 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI. Anfernee Grier went 3-for-5 for the Tigers. Damon Haecker, Daniel Robert and Melvin Gray had two hits each for Auburn.
 
Rocky McCord (2-2) pitched 5.0 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits to earn the win on the mound for Auburn. Justin Camp tossed 1.1 innings, giving up no runs on one hit to pick up his fifth save of the season.
 
Samford jumped on top first with a run in the bottom of the first inning. With two outs in the inning, Quinn hit his sixth home run of the season to left field for a 1-0 Samford lead.
 
Auburn tied the game with a run in the top of the third inning. Haecker singled up the middle to drive in Grier to knot the score at 1-1.
 
Samford took the lead again with a run in the bottom of the third inning. With one out, T.J. Dixon doubled to start the rally. With two outs, Swilling singled through the right side of the infield to drive in Dixon, giving the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead.
 
Auburn took the lead for the first time with two runs in the top of the fourth inning. Deese singled up the middle to drive in Robert to tie the score at 2-2. Gray later scored from third base on a sacrifice fly by Ben Craft for a 3-2 Auburn lead.
 
Samford answered with a run in the bottom of the fourth inning to tie the score again at 3-3. Austin Edens walked to lead off the inning. Edens advanced to second base on an infield single by Lee, and third base on a fly out by Damon Waller. Rodriguez then singled up the middle to drive in Edens for the game-tying run.
 
Auburn took the lead for good with two runs in the fifth inning. Robert doubled to right field to drive in Grier for the inning's first run. Gray then doubled to center field to drive in Robert for a 5-3 Auburn lead.
 
Samford cut the Auburn lead to 5-4 with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Waller walked to lead off the inning, and advanced to second base on a ground out by Rodriguez. With two outs, Waller advanced to third base on a wild pitch. Watson then singled through the left side of the infield to drive in Waller to bring Samford to within one run of Auburn.
 
The Tigers took control of the game with three runs in the seventh inning. Gray singled through the right side of the infield to drive in Haecker for the first run of the inning. Deese then hit a two-run home run for an 8-4 Auburn lead.
 
Auburn added one final run in the top of the ninth inning to make the final score 9-4. Haecker was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and later scored from third base on a ground out by Robert.
 
With the loss, Samford falls to 11-15 overall on the season. Auburn improves to 18-11 with the win.
 
Samford will host Alabama A&M Wednesday night at 6 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field. The game can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu. The game can also be viewed online via the SoCon Digital Network at www.socondigitalnetwork.com/samford.