MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The No. 6 Auburn University at Montgomery Warhawks softball team (22-4, GSC: 8-4) used a record-tying five home runs to defeat the Christian Brothers Buccaneers (5-18-1, GSC: 1-11) 10-2 on Sunday afternoon to complete its first GSC series sweep of the season.

COACH WILKES LANEY'S COMMENTS
"Five home runs in one game. I mean, have a day AUM! Reese, along with our defense, shut down their offense, and our offense came alive. Super proud we took game three today with the series sweep."

HOW IT HAPPENED
A pair of 1-2-3 half innings quickly ended the first frame before Reese Cauley led off the top of the second inning with a solo shot to get things going for the Warhawks. Cauley returned to the circle in the bottom of the frame where she struck out two batters to keep AUM in front.
 
Jasmine Sneed worked a walk early in the third inning before Chloe Baynes laid down a well-placed sacrifice bunt to advance her to second. Sneed continued to advance around the diamond on Gabbi Barnowsky's at-bat, later scoring on Rebecca Komers' RBI base hit to put AUM up 2-0.
 
For the third-straight inning, Cauley handled the Buccs in order, giving AUM's offense the chance to push ahead. This set up a strong fourth inning for Gracie Suggs and Karris Rhine who each hit solo home runs to improve the Warhawks' lead to 4-0.
 
Christian Brothers was able to get on the board in the bottom of the inning behind Katelyn Harmon's solo shot over the left field wall.
 
A scoreless fifth frame brought the game to the top of the sixth where the orange and black would add four more runs to its tally. Olivia Watkins led off with AUM's fourth home run of the day. Not long after, Rhine scored on Baynes' at-bat that featured a CBU error. Gracie Mason pinch ran for Kennedy Sevcik, who earned her way on base with a single a few at-bats ago. Mason went on to score on Barnowsky's fielder's choice and Baynes then scored on Komers' sacrifice fly. AUM's offensive efforts in the sixth inning put them up to an 8-1 advantage.
 
Karris Rhine closed out the Warhawks' scoring with a two-run slam over the left field wall, plating herself and Suggs while claiming AUM's 10^th run of the day.
 
The Buccaneers' Mackenzie Gieseler knocked one out of the park for the opponents, however, the Warhawks would walk away with a 10-2 game three victory and the series sweep over Christian Brothers.
 
NOTABLES

• The Warhawks combined for five homers on the day, tying the program's division II record. The last time this happened was during the 2021 season when AUM defeated Shorter College.
• Reese Cauley improved to 13-1 on the season after tossing her 11^th complete game today. Over seven innings, Cauley notched a career-high 11 strikeouts with just one walk while holding opponents to just two runs on two hits. Offensively, Cauley grabbed her third homer of the season with her second inning solo shot today.
• Karris Rhine led the Warhawks with two hits on three at-bats, with both of her hits leaving the ballpark, her sixth and seventh home runs of the season. She totaled three runs and three RBI while also working a walk.
• Gabbi Barnowsky took two hits on four at-bats while bringing in one RBI.
• Gracie Suggs' fourth inning longball marked her first while wearing orange and black.
• Olivia Watkins' leadoff home run in the sixth frame marked her third of the season.

 
UP NEXT
The Warhawks will stay on the road for a midweek matchup against Columbus State on Tuesday, March 17 at 2 p.m.


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