Auburn pitcher Ashlee Swindle entered the game in a hurry.
Starter Lexie Handley was yanked after walking three of the first four batters of the game, so Swindle inherited a bases-loaded situation with just one out.
Florida catcher Jordan Roberts was the first batter to face Swindle, and all Roberts needed was three pitches.
She bashed Swindle’s 1-1 offering over the fence in left-center field and gave the Gators a quick 4-0 lead.
Florida added two more runs in the third inning en route to a 6-1 win to take the series against the Tigers on the road.
Pitcher Kelly Barnhill struck out 10 batters and only gave up one run and two hits in a complete game for her 27th win of the season. Six of her 10 strikeouts came when she struck out the side in the fourth and fifth innings.
Barnhill didn’t walk a single batter, snapping a nine-game stretch where she walked at least one, though the senior did hit three batters on Sunday.
Auburn (35-15, 10-11 SEC) also got on the board in the first inning, thanks to third baseman Tannon Snow. She worked Barnhill to a full count and then smacked a solo home run to left to narrow Florida’s lead to three.
But from there, Barnhill shut down the Tigers offense, which came into the series ranked 20th in the country in runs per game. Auburn only had one more hit for the rest of the game after Snow’s home run.
The Gators’ offense got right back to work in the third inning.
Second baseman Hannah Adams and Roberts received consecutive free passes from Swindle to lead off the inning. Left fielder Jade Caraway then grounded out, but that moved both runners into scoring position with one out.
Third baseman Hannah Sipos scored Adams on an RBI single, and then right fielder Cheyenne Lindsey knocked in Roberts with a groundout to put the Gators up 6-1.
Neither team scored after that, and Florida (39-13, 11-10 SEC) came away with its third SEC series win of the season. UF hosts Mississippi State next weekend to close out conference play and currently sits in sixth place in the SEC.
Follow Brendan Farrell on Twitter @Bfarrell727 and contact him at bfarrell@alligator.org.
Jordan Roberts' first inning grand slam led Florida to a series win over Auburn.
