AUBURN, Ala. – A two-run home run from Emily Carosone and a three-run second inning lifted No. 2 Auburn past Longwood 5-2 Saturday night at Jane B. Moore Field in the second game of the three-game series.

For the second straight game, Longwood outhit the Tigers by a 5-4 margin with five different players on the Longwood roster recording hits.

"Today, we improved in some areas and there were other areas in which we could've played better softball," said head coach Kathy Riley. "I was real pleased with our plate appearances today. We made some really nice adjustments and were aggressive on the right pitches."

Elizabeth McCarthy (11-8) suffered the loss, tossing one-plus innings and allowing five runs on two hits. Freshman Sydney Gay came on with the bases loaded in the second inning and gave up one hit and a walk in 4.0 innings. She did not give up a hit after Auburn recorded a two-out single in the second inning.

Jenna Carnes worked the sixth inning, giving up one hit and walking a batter, as she faced four batters in the inning.

In her past five appearances, Gay, the reigning Big South Pitcher of the Week, has allowed just two runs while striking out 25 batters in 23.2 innings of work.
Auburn's Kaylee Carlson (11-0) earned the win, giving up one run on four hits in 5.0 innings.

Longwood (21-14) came out and took a 1-0 lead after Jamie Barbour singled to left field on the game's second pitch. After advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt from Carly Adams. Barbour came around to score on a throwing error from Emily Carosone to give Longwood an early 1-0 advantage.

After a Tiffany Howard walk to lead off the bottom of the first, Carosone homered on a 1-0 offering with a high drive to right center to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead.

The Tigers (36-4) added a trio of runs in the second inning. Madi Gipson worked a leadoff walk before Courtney Shea doubled to right center field. Casey McCracken then walked before Gay replaced McCarthy in the circle. Gipson came home from third on a passed ball before Shea scored on a 4-3 groundout. The Tigers added their final run of the inning on a wild pitch where McCracken slid safely under the tag of Gay.

After that inning, Gay settled in nicely allowing just three players to reach base.

Glenn Walters scored in the sixth inning after ripping the first pitch she saw down the left field line for a double. She was able to advance to third on a wild pitch before coming home on the second wild pitch of the inning.

Longwood looks to avoid the sweep in the final game of the three-game series set for Sunday, April 10. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. ET.

"We're going to come out tomorrow and look to win a game," Riley said. "We know we have to be good in all phases of the game in order to be successful, because they have such good hitting and pitching."

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