No. 6 Auburn baseball stumbled in its final regular-season series as it dropped two of three games to Ole Miss at Swayze Field for its third SEC series loss of the year.
The Tigers dropped game one 9-2 on Thursday, lost game two 15-11 on Friday and salvaged game three of the series with a 13-8 win on Saturday.
Here is a recap of the Tigers’ weekend:
Game one
After scoring 65 runs over the last four games, Auburn’s bats went cold as it recorded just six hits and was held scoreless until the ninth frame in a 9-2 loss to open the series on Thursday at Swayze Field.
Ole Miss starter Hunter Elliott recorded eight strikeouts in seven innings of work to go along with a Rebels lineup that put up nine runs in the middle innings to take down the Tigers.
“When you’re on the road, the earlier you can score the more you can settle into the ballgame. That didn’t happen tonight. I tip my hat to Hunter Elliott. We have to come back out here with our guy (Samuel) Dutton tomorrow and get back in this series,” said Auburn head coach Butch Thompson.
Making his fourth start of the season, Cam Tilly held the Rebels scoreless until the fifth frame, in which they broke open a tied game with a pair of hit batters, followed by a single, to load the bases. A sacrifice fly to left plated the first run and a second scored on a wild pitch.
Again in the sixth, Ole Miss put the first two batters on and capitalized with two consecutive singles up the middle to stretch its lead to 4-0 before breaking loose for five runs – three unearned – in the seventh.
Auburn punched back with its only runs of the game in the top of the ninth on a double from Eric Snow, which scored Eric Guevara and Ike Irish, who doubled earlier in the inning.
Snow led the way for the Tigers at the plate with three hits, while Irish added two. Chase Fralick recorded the only other base knock of the contest for Auburn with a single up the middle in the third.
Game two
Trailing 10-2 after the first five innings, Auburn scored nine runs over the last four frames, but its comeback efforts fell short as it dropped the series in a 15-11 loss on Friday night at Swayze Field.
The Tigers scored two runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings and three in the ninth – and outhit the Rebels 15-13 – to cut into the deficit, but seven runs given up in the first three frames and six in the middle innings from the Rebels were too much to overcome.
Auburn ace Samuel Dutton never found his groove as he lasted just three innings while giving up seven earned runs on six hits, surrendering his third loss on the season.
Ike Irish sparked the Tigers’ offensive effort with his fourth multi-homer game of the season, collecting three hits with three RBIs as each of the first six batters in Auburn’s lineup recorded multiple hits.
Going down 3-0 in the early goings after a three-run home run, Auburn fought back with a pair of runs in the second and third frames as Chase Fralick doubled to score Bub Terrell in the second, and Irish followed with a solo blast in the third.
The Rebels answered with four runs in the home half of the third as they used five batters to do the damage. A walk, three singles and a hit batter pushed across two runs before a two-out single scored two more, extending the lead to 7-2.
Ole Miss scored two more in the fourth on a wild pitch and a single before adding another in the fifth on an RBI-double to left.
Snow, pinch-hitting for Fralick, blasted a two-run home run in the sixth, but the Rebels answered with a three-run shot in the home half.
The Tigers tacked on two runs in the seventh on a backside single from Terrell and a walk, but left the bases loaded.
Cooper McMurray blasted his 14th home run of the season in the eighth to make it a 13-8 ballgame before Ole Miss answered with a two-run homer of its own.
Chris Rembert and Guevara traded back-to-back doubles in the ninth to plate a run, and Irish delivered his second homer of the game to cut the lead to four, but a groundout to the shortstop ended the Tigers’ comeback efforts.
Game three
After trailing 8-3 after the first five frames, Auburn punched back with a five-run sixth inning and two in the seventh to complete its comeback bid and salvage game three of the series against Ole Miss, 10-8, at Swayze Field on Saturday.
The two teams both had 13 hits, and Auburn recorded six extra-base hits as it took advantage of three bases-loaded opportunities in the sixth, seventh and ninth innings.
Auburn starter Christian Chatterton gave up a leadoff home run in the first, but worked two straight scoreless innings through the third. His night ended after four innings as he worked six strikeouts while allowing four runs.
The Tigers put up three runs in the fourth as Irish led off the inning with a solo-shot to center field. It was his 16th homer of the season — 12th on the road in SEC play — and third of the weekend. Three straight walks afterward loaded the bases with two outs, and Bristol Carter recorded an infield single, which popped off the glove of Luke Hill at third base, to score two and give them a 3-1 lead – the first of the series.
However, Ole Miss answered in the home half with a three-run home run to give it a one-run lead, and one it would build on as it tacked on four more in the fifth for an 8-3 lead.
The Tigers answered by plating five runs in their next at-bat. Guevara singled through the left side in a bases-loaded situation, scoring two, and back-to-back doubles from McMurray and Lucas Steele plated three more.
Auburn tacked on two more in the seventh to break an 8-8 tie as Rembert recorded his first of two doubles in the game to plate Fralick, and Carter scored on a balk in another bases-loaded situation.
Ryan Hetzler held the Rebels’ lineup at bay for the final four frames as they were held scoreless during the stretch.
The Tigers added three insurance runs in the top of the ninth by way of a hit-by-pitch, fielder's choice groundout and a wild pitch before Hetzler worked a fourth consecutive scoreless frame.
The Tigers will await their seeding for the SEC Tournament set to begin next week at the Hoover Met.
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