The Tigers wasted little time smashing their all-time home run record this season.

They are also maintaining a similar clip on the opposite end of the spectrum with strikeouts.

The pace has mimicked that of yet another Tigers’ freefall from SEC Tournament eligibility.

For the second consecutive night, Ole Miss dismissed Auburn well before the seventh-inning stretch Saturday, as the Rebels used a four-run third inning to coast to an 8-2 victory before 2,672 fans at Plainsman Park.

Auburn has lost seven straight SEC games and nine of its last 10.

Not even 13 hits could help the Tigers do any more damage on the scoreboard.

The 11 strikeouts, which put Auburn just seven away from the all-time record, helped render most of the threats punchless.

The propensity to upper-cut in those situations has been a constant problem ever since Auburn started flirting with historical power numbers.

“You lose sight and lose the fact of what our goals are offensively and what we’re trying to do with putting the ball in play and moving guys over,” coach John Pawlowski said. “That’s more so what the guys were thinking: home runs, home runs. That’s not the type of club we’re going to be.”

Three big misses came in the first inning, when the Tigers had the bases loaded and no outs. Hunter Morris and Brian Fletcher struck out before Casey McElroy walked in the Tigers’ first run. Tony Caldwell followed with a strikeout of his own.

“I thought the whole tone was set in the first inning,” Pawlowski said. “We picked a bad time to strike out three times.”

In the third inning, Kevin Patterson grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to mute another bases-loaded chance.

It’d be the last opportunity of any substance.

“It’s a concern,” Pawlowski said. “It’s being addressed, and it will continue to be addressed until we do a better job at it because it’s something that can’t continue the way it’s going.”

The plan to match up Auburn ace Grant Dayton against an opponent’s second-best didn’t come to fruition, as the sophomore labored from the start before he was chased in the fourth.

Dayton allowed six runs in 3 1/3 innings and didn’t do himself many favors throughout his shortest outing of the year. He gave up eight hits, two walks and used 80 pitches — the bulk of which coming in the third when he allowed a two-run homer to Matt Smith and a two-RBI triple to Tim Ferguson.

“We just weren’t able to get out of that inning,” Pawlowski said. “We just didn’t have the firepower to come back from that.”

Dayton has won just one SEC game this season — the Tigers’ first of the season at Tennessee on March 13. Since then, he is 0-4 with a 7.38 ERA.

By the eighth, more than an hour since the pregame buzz for the primetime TV game had fizzled, Ole Miss’ dugout was air-drumming to the techno music blared in between innings.

The mood was distinctly dour on the opposite side of the field, as the Tigers crept one game closer toward another year of being home for the postseason.

The Tigers are now two-and-a-half games behind Vanderbilt for the eighth and final spot in the conference tournament with seven games to play, including tomorrow’s 1 p.m. start against Ole Miss’ Scott Bittle, who is 5-2 with a 2.17 ERA.

The Tigers will counter with freshman Dexter Price (3-1, 5.40).

Auburn has not qualified for the conference tournament since 2003. If they don’t do so this year, it will mark the longest drought in
program history.

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