Ole Miss beat Auburn on Friday night in a style that the Tigers have yet to do against one of their conference opponents in this dwindling-away season.

The Rebels proved that if you can hit when it matters, the runs will pile up — no matter how many singles you hit.

The Tigers were outpitched and small-balled into submission by No. 7 Ole Miss in Friday night’s 9-2 loss at Plainsman Park.

“They came up with some hits and two-out hits and found some holes,” coach John Pawlowski said. “And then they hit some balls hard.”

The end result dealt another hard blow to Auburn’s SEC Tournament chances.

With the loss, Auburn (26-20, 8-14 SEC) fell two games behind South Carolina, which beat Vanderbilt on Friday, for the eighth and final spot in the conference tournament. The Tigers are now tied with Kentucky for ninth place in the SEC with eight games remaining.

Auburn has lost six straight SEC games and eight of its last nine.

The latest setback marked one of the Tigers’ more feeble nights at the plate, as they amassed just one run when it mattered on six hits.

Justin Hargett’s two-out single in the third inning, which plated Wes Gilmer, was all the Tigers could muster before a Brandon Ray fielder’s choice scored Hunter Morris in the ninth.

“We weren’t able to build any kind of innings,” Pawlowski said. “Unfortunately, that was the biggest difference.”

Ole Miss, meanwhile, did all its damage without hitting a home run and just three doubles.

The Rebels manufactured runs in the second and fourth innings before touching up Auburn starter Jon Luke Jacobs with timely singles to chase the redshirt freshman in the fifth inning. After retiring two of the first three batters, Jacobs surrendered five consecutive hits — four singles — to let Ole Miss stretch its lead to 6-1.

The Rebels did it in similar fashion for three runs off Chris O’Neil in the sixth inning, but by then, the game was long lost.

“It’s just tough,” Pawlowski said. “We didn’t execute a great plan pitching-wise from the middle innings on.”

The Tigers never really had a chance to up their percentages with runners in scoring position because lefthander Drew Pomeranz simply wouldn’t allow many. Pomeranz allowed just three hits and struck out a career-high 10 Tigers over six innings.

The Tigers have struck out 399 times this season, 17 away from setting an all-time record for most in a season.

“It’s just the key for us offensively is limiting those strikeouts to when guys aren’t in scoring position,” Pawlowski said. “And to his credit, he used his fastball well and beat us with a lot of fastballs tonight.”

While the Rebels racked up eight runs from the fourth-sixth innings, Pomeranz didn’t allow a hit.

“I think we’re keeping the game close and the next thing you know they score (eight) runs in the middle three innings,” Pawlowski said. “All of a sudden the game is out of hand.”

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