No. 20 Auburn picked up a 2-1 series win over the weekend against Kentucky at Kentucky Proud Park.
The series win marks the team’s eighth-straight winning weekend dating back to the end of the 2024 season, marking the longest such streak since 2003.
The Tigers won an 8-7 ballgame on Friday night, won an 8-7 extra-inning thriller on Saturday and dropped the Sunday game 6-0.
Here’s a recap of the Tigers’ weekend:
Game one
Auburn rallied for two runs in the ninth inning to fend off Kentucky in a back-and-forth affair at Kentucky Proud Park on Friday night.
“That was a team win,” said Auburn head coach Butch Thompson. “Start to finish, we were engaged and played as hard as we could. We found a way to somehow win this ballgame. We had some big moments, some big swings.”
The Tigers were trailing 7-6 with two outs to work with in their last at-bat. Auburn put the tying run on base when Cooper McMurray singled through the left side. Pinch-runner Bristol Carter stole second and scored to tie the game on Chase Fralick’s two-out double to left field.
Ike Irish – who returned from injury – popped up on the next pitch, but Wildcats’ shortstop Tyler Bell dropped it, which allowed Cole Edwards to score the go-ahead run from second. Auburn closer Ryan Hetzler retired the side in the ninth, earning his second conference save in as many appearances.
“I like all the pressure,” Hetzler said. “I think pressure is a privilege. It’s great to be out there and be trusted with that. I know where I’m going to throw it, and I know if I can make that pitch, they’re not going to hit it or they’re not going to hit it well.”
Auburn took a quick 1-0 lead in the first after leadoff hitter Eric Snow was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a groundout, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Bub Terrell’s sacrifice fly. Lucas Steele stayed hot in the box and blasted his third homerun in the past four games to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead after the first two frames.
Kentucky pulled even in the bottom half of the second, scoring two runs on three straight hits and a sacrifice fly, but Auburn regained the lead in the top of the third without a hit; McMurray started the inning with a walk, advanced to second on another walk and third on a hit-by-pitch before scoring on Steele’s sacrifice fly.
However, the Wildcats answered with two runs on three hits in the bottom of the third to lead 4-3.
Auburn then rallied for three runs in the sixth as Eric Guevara’s double down the left-field line scored Steele, who was hit by a pitch. Snow followed with a two-run double to center, scoring Belyeu and Guevara for a 6-4 lead.
Kentucky’s Devin Burkes homered off of Auburn reliever Jett Johnston in the sixth, cutting the Tigers’ lead to 6-5. Carson Myers took over with one out and a runner on second, but the Wildcats pulled even at 6-6 on Griffin Cameron’s RBI single to center.
Auburn responded with a quick 1-2-3 inning at the plate and Kentucky grabbed a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the inning with the singles off of John Armstrong, who struck out two before Parker Carlson entered and recorded a groundout to strand two Wildcats.
Carlson earned the win in 1.1 innings pitched, holding the Wildcats scoreless. Sam Dutton went the first five innings, giving up eight hits and four runs with four strikeouts.
Game two
Ike Irish capped off a five-hit performance with a go-ahead home run in the 11th inning to give No. 20 Auburn an 8-7 series-clinching win on Saturday at Kentucky Proud Park.
With the score knotted at seven in the top of the 11th inning, Irish blasted his second home run of the game to mark the program's first five-hit performance in SEC play since 2011.
“I’ve been looking for that swing all year, and it was able to come up in the big moment,” Irish said of his go-ahead homer. “I couldn’t have gotten to that swing without Jackson Sanders bearing down and same with Parker (Carlson) that inning before.”
After Parker Carlson recorded the final out of the 10th inning and worked with Sanders to escape a bases-loaded jam, the Wildcats put the potential tying run on and advanced him to third. On a 1-2 count, the runner broke for the plate, but Carlson stepped off and threw it to Chase Fralick behind the dish who swiped the runner for an out to solidify the win.
In another action-packed affair, the Tigers grabbed the early lead as Bub Terell scored on an RBI single up the middle from Fralick. Auburn added one more run in the second frame when Cade Belyeu tripled off the wall in right and scored on a sacrifice fly.
Auburn starter Cade Fisher retired six straight in three scoreless innings before Tyer Bell homered in the fourth to cut the Tigers’ lead to one. Fisher worked four innings, giving up two hits and an earned run.
Andreas Alvarez entered out of the bullpen for Auburn in the fifth, and Kentucky greeted him with a single and a double, tying the score at 2-2. The Wildcats took a 3-2 lead when Shaun Montoya advanced to third and scored on consecutive wild pitches.
Auburn answered with a four-run inning of its own. Irish led off the sixth with a double to left field, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Chris Rembert single to left. Belyeu recorded his second extra-base hit of the game with a ground-rule double, moving him and Rembert into scoring position. Deric Fabian singled to left to score Rembert and Eric Snow followed with another single to left. Fabian scored on a fielder's choice groundout from Terell to give the Tigers a 6-3 advantage.
Auburn held the Wildcats scoreless for the next three frames, and Ike Irish blasted a towering shot over the wall in right to lead off the ninth. But the Tigers gave up a four-run inning in the ninth.
Kentucky loaded the bases on two hit batters and a walk with one out in the 10th inning, but the combination of Sanders, Carlson and a five-man infield ultimately escaped the inning unscathed, allowing Auburn to put the final touches on this one in the 11th.
Game three
After securing the series with 16 runs in back-to-back games to secure the series, No. 20 Auburn only recorded two hits and was held scoreless on Sunday, dropping the game 6-0 at Kentucky Proud Park.
Deric Fabian and Eric Snow were the only two Tigers to record a hit in the loss.
Kentucky put up a five-spot in the bottom of the first with a duo of walks, a hit-by-pitch, and a single, igniting the scoring efforts. Another single, a walk and a pair of sacrifice flies throughout the frame allowed Kentucky to exit the inning with a five-run cushion.
Christian Chatterton only worked ⅓ of an inning in the start, throwing 26 pitches while giving up the five runs.
Auburn’s bullpen was able to alleviate the damage as Dylan Watts entered and worked the next four innings, throwing 60 pitches and giving up just one hit. Carson Myers entered on his heels and worked another scoreless 1.2 frames with just one hit given up. Griffin Graves closed it out, giving up one run in the seventh on an RBI single, but held the Wildcats scoreless in the eighth.
The Tigers never got much traction on the basepath, leaving just six runners on base. They struck out six times and recorded zero extra base hits in the loss.
Auburn will return to action on Tuesday against South Alabama at Riverwalk Stadium. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
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