The Auburn Tigers baseball season came to an end Monday night with a 13-7 loss to the Clemson Tigers in the Regional championship game.
"We just never got off to a good start," said Auburn coach John Pawlowski. "Against good teams, it's tough to come back."
Auburn finished the season 43-21 and with a Southeastern Conference West Division Championship.
The Tigers had the priviledge to host a NCAA Regional at its home park for the first time since 2003 while also advancing to the SEC Tournament for the first time since 2003.
"When we started this, and how far we've come, to be able to host a Regional, this many people coming out to support the Auburn Tigers is really remarkable," Pawlowski said.
Clemson build a commanding 6-0 lead over the first two innings and Auburn was never fully able to recover.
"Clemson came up with some big hits and made some big pitches when they needed to," Pawlowski said. "Obviously, it's frustrating."
Junior Kyle Parker got things started for Clemson in the top of the first inning with a three-run home run. Clemson continued to pour on the runs as junior Jeff Schaus hit a two-run single to center field to put the Tigers up 6-0.
Auburn was troubled with missed opportunities at times, leaving 12 runners on base, eight of which were in the first four innings, including bases loaded in the bottom of the second.
"We had a lot of base hits and a lot of base runners," Pawlowski said. "We hit into a lot of double plays unconventionally. Some of those double plays took the wind out of our sails. We had a little momentum going but we never could get over the top."
Senior Ryan Jenkins went 3-for-5 with two doubles and two runs scored while junior Justin Bryant and sophomore Casey McElroy both had three hits and two RBI. McElroy would go on to hit a home run to right field to lead off the bottom of the seventh.
"I thought that was our inning to really come back and, at least, tie it up or come within a run or two," McElroy said. "Creede (Simpson) stepped up and hit a great double. We had a couple bad breaks that didn't go our way, but that's baseball."
Auburn loaded the bases in the ninth but was once again unable to capitalize as freshman Clemson reliever Kevin Brady would get a grounder behind the bag at first off the bat of junior Trent Mummey to give Clemson the win and trip to the Super Regionals, where it will play host to Alabama next weekend.
Auburn finished the year with a school record 131 home runs, which is tied for sixth-most in SEC history. The Tigers also had a school-record .348 team batting average, 293 extra-base hits, and .591 slugging percentage.
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