Alabama found its offense and rediscovered its confidence as the Tide swept rival Auburn with a decisive 14-4 victory Sunday.



In what can only be termed a meltdown, Auburn allowed eight runs in the ninth inning as errors and miscues buried the Tigers.



The sweep was Alabama's first at Auburn since 1983 and its first against an SEC opponent this season.



"As I've said before, we're a pretty talented team that, to be quite honest, has underachieved up until this point," Alabama coach Mitch Gaspard said. "But it certainly all came together for us this weekend, particularly on the offensive end. Once we got going you could see the confidence in the guys."



Auburn's bullpen imploded for the third straight game as six relievers allowed 11 runs, including eight by four pitchers in the ninth. Alabama (28-24, 11-16 SEC) was also aided by three errors by the Tigers' infield in the ninth, prompting coach Sunny Golloway to contemplate publicly if he should make a major move heading into the final week of the season. The Tigers finished with five errors.



"We clearly looked really bad at times this weekend," Golloway said.



It wasn't all bad for the Tigers (32-20, 12-15), however. They had a shot at grabbing the lead in the seventh, but center fielder Georgie Salem made the defensive play of the weekend to save a bases-clearing double from Daniel Robert.



Alabama led 6-4 with the bases loaded, and Robert's hit nearly dropped before Salem charged for the ball and caught it on a dive in right-center field.



Salem moved to his right with Robert at the plate because of two similar hits he had against Alabama this season. "If I hadn't moved that way, I would have never caught it," Salem said.



"It was one of the better plays I've seen," said Gaspard, "and more so because of the timeliness of it and who it's against and the situation that it was in."

RELATED: Relive the game, inning by inning



Salem was 4-for-5 with a walk and J.C. Wilhite was 4-for-4.



Alabama led 5-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning. Will Haynie crushed a two-run home run over the green monster in left to extend the lead. Officials reviewed film of the high-arcing hit to see if the ball was in fair or foul territory, but officials stuck with the original call on the field.



Alabama starter Geoffrey Bramblett carried a one-hitter into the sixth inning. Auburn starter Dalton Rentz was charged with the loss. He gave up three runs (one earned) on five hits in four innings.



Auburn struggled in several big moments during the series. Anfernee Grier was 1-for-13 with nine strikeouts in the series, including seven straight strikeouts. Alabama had 33 hits in the final two games of the series.



Auburn enters the final week of the regular season with its NCAA regional hopes likely on the line against Morehead State and at No. 10 Florida. Alabama will try to improve its SEC Tournament stock against Mercer and No. 6 Vanderbilt at home.