Auburn will have to wait another day to punch its ticket to Hoover.

That’s because Tennessee threw some early body blows to punch out the Tigers, 9-3, on Friday night at Plainsman Park.

Auburn sits one win — or one Alabama loss — away from clinching a berth in the SEC Tournament, something it hasn’t done since 2003.

“Yeah, it’s pretty disappointing,” shortstop Casey McElroy said. “We just got beat. We just have to come out tomorrow and go for it again. We’re going to give it our best effort.”

The Tigers (33-17, 15-10) got Tennessee starting pitcher Stephen McCray’s best effort Friday, as the senior Vols right-hander kept the Tigers off balance all night.

McCray went 7 1/3 innings, giving up 9 hits, but pitching out of numerous jams to keep the Vols (29-21, 12-13) in the hunt for the SEC Tournament, as they currently sit in the eighth-and-final spot.

“I was able to make some pitches when I needed to,” McCray said. “They’re a good-hitting club. They hit a lot of good pitches I made. They swing it well. But like I said, I was able to make some good pitches when I needed to and got out of a couple jams. The guys behind me played great.”

The Vols are now winners of seven straight, including six SEC games, as they took the last two from Kentucky two weeks ago, then swept Georgia last week. Throw in a mid-week win against Middle Tennessee State on Wednesday, and Tennessee is one of the hottest teams in the conference, knocking Auburn out of that category.

Coming into Friday’s game, Auburn had won five out of its last six. It was the Tigers’ first SEC loss since April 30. However, AU fell to South Alabama on Tuesday in Mobile, then could never get it going Friday.

Tennessee jumped out to an early lead on Cody Hawn’s three-run home run in the top of the first inning. Hawn’s capitalized on an Auburn error to start the game and a walked batter. It was his fifth home run in four games.

Auburn added a run in the third when Brian Fletcher singled in Trent Mummey.

But the Vols turned it back into a three-run game in the top of the fourth when Blake Forsythe hit “one of the hardest balls I’ve ever hit” over the 30-foot high wall in left field.

Fletcher never moved from his leftfield spot, as the Auburn outfielder just turned to watch it leave Hitchcock Field.

The Vols scored another in the frame to take a 5-1 lead, then added one in the fifth. A sac fly by Fletcher in the bottom of the fifth scored Justin Fradejas to make it 5-2.

But a two-RBI single by Forsythe in the sixth put the Vols way out of reach.

Auburn starter Cory Luckie took the loss, going 3 2/3 innings. He gave up five earned runs on five hits and struck out three. He also walked two. On the night, the Tigers walked nine batters, and left 10 runners on base.

“I think frustrating night,” Auburn head coach John Pawlowski said. “Certainly from the walks standpoint. Three of them scored. But we never really got out of the gate.

“We never really had a chance to be in that ballgame tonight.”

Hunter Morris and McElroy were the only two Tigers with more than one hit, while Fletcher plated two of AU’s three runs. Morris had the other on a solo home run in the eighth.

Auburn will look to clinch a spot in the SEC Tournament today in Game 2 against Tennessee, which begins at 3 p.m.

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