AUBURN – Following one of their best performances of the season on Friday night, the Auburn Tigers lost back-to-back games to the No. 4 Tennessee Volunteers.
The Tigers won game one 9-5 before losing game two 12-2 and game three 19-5 both in seven inning run-rules.
“That’s what’s disappointing, when you had a chance. Winning Wednesday and Friday, you want this team to make a move and you had a chance to win the series these last two days,” Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said. “Their strength absolutely outshined our strength. I give Tennessee a ton of credit. We have a lot of work to do.”
Despite some early pitching struggles, Auburn was able to get the job done on Friday night thanks to dominant pitching performances from Carson Myers and John Armstrong.
“Just an amazing job by those two guys,” Thompson said. “I was ready to throw 10 of the 12 arms we had on the roster, but to only throw three guys in a game one was pretty exciting. Armstrong was elite. He was special tonight.”
Myers earned his second win of the season in a 3.2-inning effort in which he allowed no runs off of three hits and struck out four batters. Armstrong earned his second save of the season with four innings of work that saw only two baserunners and six strikeouts.
“It felt good, especially against a really good team,” Armstrong said. “It felt like we needed to help our hitters out, so it was good to throw up a lot of zeroes and just get after it.”
Ike Irish led the charge for the Tigers at the plate. He went 3-4 with two RBI and a home run.
“I thought it was huge just to get a little momentum back because they struck first,” Irish said. “It’s hard to get momentum and even harder to keep it. Belyeu had a big swing and McMurray, Hall, Peirce - everyone was connected and on time.”
The Volunteers had a home run derby at Plainsman Park on Saturday afternoon. Auburn trailed 12-0 before it managed to chip away at the lead slightly.
Conner McBride got the start for Auburn and only lasted 1.2 innings. He allowed five runs off of four hits.
“If you want to play that game and flip that lineup and keep getting Moore and Burke to the plate, you can pay for that, and that definitely happened,” Thompson said. “The way Beam pitched today, that was more than he needed, so it was a huge moment in the ballgame.”
Auburn got off to a quick start in game three, but a seven-run rally in the top of the second inning put Tennessee in control, and it never let up.
“With six weeks to go we have a lot of baseball left,” Thompson said.
Auburn is now 18-13 on the season and 2-10 in SEC play.
The Tigers take on the Alabama State Hornets at home on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT. The television broadcast can be found on SEC Network, and the Auburn Sports Network broadcast can be heard locally on Wings 94.3 FM or streamed anywhere on the Auburn Athletics app.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email daniel.locke@1819news.com.
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