Despite falling behind early, Auburn’s bats woke up in the later innings, scoring two each in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings to win 6-2. The Tigers tied the series against South Carolina in Columbia, where the Tigers have now won for the first time since 2009.
Starter Rocky McCord had yet another solid start, holding the Gamecocks to only one earned run on four hits in seven innings.
The Tigers couldn’t get anything going early, as South Carolina elected to use their closer, Taylor Widener, to start the game, and he pitched five shutout innings. After Cody Mincey relieved Widener, the Tigers got going.
Auburn tied the game in the seventh on RBI singles by Cody Nulph and Sam Gillkin and took the lead for good in the eighth on a sequence of baserunning and smarts.
After Melvin Gray walked to start the inning, Anfernee Grier moved Gray over to third on a single, and Grier advanced to second after Gray drew a throw to third.
With men on second and third, Daniel Robert collected his 14th RBI in the last 12 games on a sacrifice fly to left, giving the Tigers a 3-2 lead — their first of the series. One batter later, Damon Haecker dribbled a soft grounder to second, but the second baseman couldn’t field the ball cleanly. Grier, who had advanced to third, kept running and beat a tag at home to extend the Auburn lead to 4-2.
The next inning, Auburn tacked on two more runs via squeeze bunt from Kyler Deese and an RBI from Gray.
Izaac Yarbrough closed the final two innings, registering his first save of the season in the process.
The series-deciding game will be Sunday at 1 p.m. at Carolina Stadium, and it will be televised on ESPNU. Dalton Rentz is scheduled to take the mound for Auburn.
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