It was a rough weekend for the Auburn baseball team (15-8, 2-4 SEC as of Tuesday) as it played a three game series against No. 15 Arkansas.
The Razorbacks swept the Tigers, 3-2, 10-6, 12-6.
The series began Friday afternoon at Plainsman Park. Sophomore Grant Dayton started on the mound.
Dayton struck out 10, but the Tigers' bats were uncharacteristically quiet.
"The offense was not as good as they want it to be," said sophomore outfielder Brian Fletcher. "(The team) knows that they have the potential to score a lot of runs."
Arkansas hit a two-run home run in the third inning to take a 2-0 lead.
Auburn answered in the fourth to cut the lead to one and tied the game in the seventh.
In the ninth inning, the Razorbacks hit another home run and wrapped up the 3-2 win.
Redshirt freshman Jon Luke Jacobs took the mound Saturday afternoon to avenge Friday's loss. Jacobs pitched five innings and allowed four earned runs on five hits.
Auburn's offense played better in the second game of the series but still failed to match Arkansas.
The Tigers got off to an early lead, scoring in the first inning to go up 1-0. They were quickly countered by a three-run second inning by the Razorbacks.
That lead fell as well when Auburn scored two runs in the bottom of the second. The 3-3 tie was broken in the sixth inning as two Arkansas players crossed the plate.
The back and forth scoring continued as Auburn scored one run in the sixth and added two more in the seventh, taking the lead 6-5.
Auburn's lead didn't last long. In the eighth inning, Arkansas scored two runs and then scored three more in the ninth to take the lead 10-6. Auburn could not muster up a bottom of the ninth comeback and fell short of victory.
Senior Paul Burnside was given the ball to start Sunday's game.
He lasted two and two-thirds innings giving up four runs, all in the first. "Burnside is working hard, but his pitch location is not there yet," said head coach John Pawlowski.
Arkansas dominated the game. The Razorbacks took the lead in the first and never looked back.
They held the Tigers to six runs on 12 hits while scoring 12 runs on 17 hits.
Auburn put together a four-run eighth inning but could not continue that momentum into the ninth.
Even with the late rally, the Tigers could not pull off the victory and avoid the sweep.
Pawlowski was not pleased with the team's play this weekend.
"(The team) will keep evaluating itself in the coming weeks in order to improve," Pawlowski said.
Auburn will host a three game series this weekend against Vanderbilt.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
