The drought is over.

For the first time since 2003, the Auburn baseball team will be playing in the SEC Tournament in Hoover at the end of the month, clinching the berth with a 18-0 rout of Tennessee on Saturday at Plainsman Park.

Cole Nelson threw a three-hit, complete-game to give the Tigers (34-17, 16-10) the win, moving them into a three-way tie with Arkansas and Ole
Miss at the top of the SEC West standings.

Auburn plays Ole Miss in the final SEC series of the season next weekend in Oxford.

“We talked all season and all preseason that our No. 1 priority was to find a way to get into the SEC Tournament, and we did that,” Auburn head coach John Pawlowski said. “I am especially proud of Ryan Jenkins, Michael Hurst and Austin Hubbard, those guys that have been here. We can enjoy this but now we have to move onto our next goal of winning the West.

“We certainly are in a position of where you want to be down the home stretch.”

Nelson (6-3), who hadn’t earned a win against SEC competition since the opening weekend at Georgia, surrendered just three hits in the game and only walked two, needing just 93 pitches to run through the Tennessee (29-22, 12-14 SEC) lineup.

“It felt really good today,” Nelson said, “and it was good for the team to give me a lead so I could just go out there and throw and let them hit it.

“It’s a lot of fun (to pitch with an 18-run lead). You can make some mistakes but you can just keep cruising along, you don’t have to worry about too much.”

With Nelson sitting down Tennessee batters in an efficient fashion, the Auburn bats pounded Tennessee pitching for 22 hits, including a season-high 14 for extra-bases.

Trent Mummey led the way with a 3-for-6, seven RBI performance. Mummey hit two home runs, including a grand slam in the third to put the Tigers up 11-0.

Brian Fletcher was 3-for-5 with three RBI and two home runs.

“This is a great feeling,” Fletcher said of clinching a SEC Tournament berth. “These guys have been working hard throughout the season. It’s been our No. 1 goal to make the tournament. Cole comes out here and does a great job, pitched the way he is capable of, and offensively we were able to produce and get a win.”

Mummey agreed.

“You can’t say enough about what Cole did on the mound. He pitched one of the best games I have ever seen, and it was great to get that from the mound,” Mummey said. “It was good to get the bats going early and get us ahead early.”

With the four home runs, Auburn upped its season total to 101, two shy of the school record of 103 set by last year’s club.

Auburn jumped all over Tennessee starter Steven Gruver (4-4) in the first, scoring five times in the inning and sending all nine men to the plate.
Justin Fradejas led off with a double and scored on Mummey’s first home run of the game. Fletcher followed with a double and scored on Ryan Jenkins’ RBI single.

A Dan Gamache double scored both Tony Caldwell and Jenkins to cap the scoring in the inning.

Auburn put seven more on the board in the third to go up 12-0. Then, a four-run fifth put Auburn up 16-0. In that inning, Fletcher tied Hunter
Morris for the team lead in home runs with his 18th, giving Fletcher a school-record eight multi-homer games.

Nelson’s complete game shutout was the first since Josh Sullivan did it against VMI in 2005, while Auburn’s last complete game shutout in SEC play was off the arm of Levale Speigner against Tennessee in 2002.

Prior to the game Auburn honored its three seniors in Hubbard, Hurst and Jenkins.

Auburn will try to win its fifth straight SEC series today when it sends junior lefty Grant Dayton (6-2, 5.00) to the hill against Tennessee junior left-hander Bryan Morgado (2-6, 7.03) at 1 p.m.