AUBURN, Ala. (Interstat) — The Auburn Tigers turned a tight contest into a midweek rout Tuesday night, exploding for 11 runs over the middle innings to defeat the Alabama State Hornets 13-0 in a seven-inning game shortened by the Southeastern Conference run rule at Samford Stadium – Hitchcock Field at Plainsman Park.

The most important part of the game was a decisive five-run fourth inning that broke open a 2-0 pitchers’ duel and ignited the Auburn offense. The Tigers sent 10 batters to the plate in the frame, transforming a manageable deficit for the Hornets into an insurmountable lead.

Auburn starter Griffin Graves and reliever Jett Johnston set the tone, combining for five hitless innings. Graves pitched three scoreless frames with two strikeouts, and Johnston followed with two perfect innings, striking out three. The Hornets managed just one hit all night, a seventh-inning single by Breydon Dixon, and never advanced a runner past second base.

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the first when Eric Guevara drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Auburn added another in the third on an RBI double from Chris Rembert, making it 2-0.

The floodgates opened in the fourth. After a sacrifice bunt brought in one run, Guevara launched a two-run homer to left-center field off reliever James Peters. Rembert followed with a triple, and Bub Terrell immediately brought him home with a two-run blast to center, capping the five-run outburst and pushing the lead to 7-0.

Auburn added two more in the fifth on bases-loaded walks and put the game out of reach with a four-run sixth. Lucas Steele hit a two-run homer, and Guevara capped his stellar night with his second two-run shot of the game, a blast to left field.

Guevara, the top star for Auburn, finished 3 for 4 with two home runs and five RBIs, continuing a hot streak at the plate. Rembert went 3 for 4 with a double, triple and two RBIs. Terrell drove in three runs, and Steele had two hits and two RBIs. Every starter in the Auburn lineup reached base, and the team amassed 17 hits.

For Alabama State, starter Caleb Sanders held Auburn to two runs over 2 1/3 innings, but the bullpen could not contain the Tigers’ lineup. The loss dropped the Hornets to 18-17 overall. Auburn, ranked nationally, improved to 25-11.

The result starkly contrasted the pregame projection from Interstat’s game simulator, which had predicted a 6-4 Alabama State victory, though the service’s ELO rating system gave Auburn an 87.9% probability to win.

Auburn travels to Gainesville for a three-game series against Florida beginning Thursday. Alabama State opens a Southwestern Athletic Conference series at Jackson State on Friday.