The Auburn baseball team failed to find ways to score through eight innings of dominance by Southern Alabama's starting pitcher Randy Bell. Auburn's five runs in the ninth inning were far too little, far too late, in Tuesday's 8-5 loss at Plainsman Park.
Bell (W, 4-1) retired the first 12 Auburn batters, allowing just four hits in a complete game pitched. He allowed only one hit in the first eight innings pitched, with three more in the ninth. He struck out seven and walked two.
Auburn coach Butch Thompson gave credit where it was due to the South Alabama pitcher.
"There's no doubt about it, he's [Bell] the storyline of the night," Thompson said. "When you don't score, score, score, it almost looks like you're not competing when somebody's throwing that type of night. I kind of got that feeling.
"I tip my hat and give him a lot, a lot of credit," Thompson said.
Auburn freshman reliever Daniel Sprinkle came in to pitch for starting pitcher Andrew Mitchell in the third inning with one out and two in scoring position. Sprinkle allowed one hit and struck out five in three scoreless innings of relief.
"We've just got to keep pushing, pushing, pushing," Thompson said. "We were slow out the gate and we've been doing that a little bit, but Daniel Sprinkle did a great job for us tonight. There's no excuses in this deal and we won't make any. We just have to keep pushing with what we have."
Auburn scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth on three hits, including a 3-RBI home run by Damon Haecker. A sacrifice fly by Blake Logan scored Jordan Ebert and a wild pitch scored Melvin Gray.
Ebert hit his 12th double of the season to tie Cody Nulph for team-best. Ebert is third among active SEC hitters with 231 career hits.
South Alabama took an early two-run lead after Matt Bolger hit a 2-RBI triple. The Jaguars added two more runs in the third, one earned on a wild pitch by Mitchell and one unearned on a passed ball by Sprinkle, to make the score 4-0.
South Alabama increased the advantage to 6-0 in the eighth on a 2-RBI single by Cole Billingsley. They scored their final two runs in the ninth on an RBI triple and a sacrifice fly.
Mitchell took the loss and fell to 4-3 on the season. He pitched just 2.1 innings, allowing five hits and four runs, three of which were earned.
The Tigers fell to 18-23 on the season. Auburn returns to Plainsman Park Friday at 6 p.m. for game one of a three-game series against Kentucky.
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