Davis Daniel vs Presbyterian.JPG

Auburn freshman right-hander Davis Daniel earned his first career win against Presbyterian on Sunday at Plainsman Park. (Wade Rackley/Auburn Athletics)

(Wade Rackley)

Freshman Davis Daniel put together the best outing of his young career, leading Auburn to its NCAA-best sixth shutout of the season.

Daniel tossed six scoreless innings as Auburn beat Presbyterian, 8-0, on Sunday at Plainsman Park to clinch the team's final weekend series before the start of SEC play.

Daniel, who had issues in each of his first three Sunday starts, was far more effective against the Blue Hose while earning his first career win. The freshman right-hander picked up where he left off in an intentionally brief Wednesday start against Kennesaw State, allowing just three hits and striking out a career-high eight batters against Presbyterian.

Daniel (1-0, 3.38 ERA) walked a pair on the afternoon and gave up a double among the three hits, but held Presbyterian hitless for 3 1/3 innings before allowing a fourth-inning single. Daniel threw 92 pitches on the afternoon, with 60 of them finding the strike zone.

Calvin Coker took over on the mound to start the seventh, and he tossed two hitless innings before giving way to Daniel Sprinkle, who worked around a two-out double to close out the game. With the Tigers' sixth shutout of the season, they doubled their output in that category from a year ago, when they posted three shutouts in Butch Thompson's first season.

Auburn scored its eight runs on just seven hits thanks largely to six errors by Presbyterian. Conor Davis was the only Auburn player to record multiple hits, finishing the day 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a walk.

Jonah Todd was 1-for-2 with three walks and an RBI, while Josh Anthony, Bowen McGuffin and Will Holland each drove in a run.

Auburn's first two runs of the afternoon scored on Presbyterian errors in the first and third innings. The Tigers' third run came when Anthony was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the fourth.

The Tigers didn't record a run-producing hit until the fifth inning, when McGuffin, Holland and Todd hit back-to-back-to-back RBI singles to make it 6-0. Auburn padded its lead in the eighth, scoring a third run on Presbyterian's sixth error of the day, which allowed Blake Logan to reach first and Jay Estes to score from second. Davis' RBI double stretched the lead to eight runs.

Auburn will host a pair of midweek games against UAB and Jacksonville state on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, before opening SEC play at home against Florida next weekend.