The Auburn Tigers fell to No. 8 LSU, 4-3, in the last game of Sunday's home series opener at Plainsman Park. Despite the loss, Auburn took the series 2-1.
"It was an interesting series, three games that came right down to the wire," said Auburn coach John Pawlowski. "With LSU it always comes down to one pitch, one play and it was no different this weekend as it was no different today.
Auburn falls to 15-9, 4-2 in the SEC as LSU improved their record to 18-6, 3-3 in the SEC.
Freshman starting pitcher Daniel Koger retired the first nine batters he faced. In the fourth inning LSU capitalized on senior second baseman Creede Simpson's error to score three unearned runs.
"It was only one inning, he threw seven innings and only gave up three runs," Pawlowski said. "I thought he did a good job putting that inning behind him and it's a good time for a freshman to be able to do that."
The Bayou Bengals would hold onto a 3-0 lead until the bottom of the sixth. Sophomore right fielder Jay Gonzalez led reached safely on a leadoff double and was brought in by a home run from sophomore center fielder Ryan Tella to put Auburn within one run.
"We didn't have a lot of opportunities to score runs today but Ryan came up big with a two run homerun," Pawlowski said.
Auburn would tie the game in the bottom of the seventh inning off of a Zach Alvord single that scored Caleb Bowen who reached base with a triple.
Koger would leave the game after the seventh inning, finishing with seven hits and no earned runs in seven innings. He received a no-decision.
"I told him that his job was to keep them at three," Pawlowski said. "He gave us a chance to win and that is all you can ask for."
Freshman right-hander Trey Cochran-Gill relieved Koger entering the eighth. Cochran-Gill went 1.1 innings, allowing the go-ahead run to take the loss on the day dropping his record to 1-1 on the season.
"I thought that Trey did well for us, he's got that heavy sinker to get a ground ball," Pawlowski said. "He got the ground ball, but unfortunately it was for a base hit up the middle."
With the series win, Auburn has successfully defeated LSU in the last three series the teams have faced off, the first time that Auburn has done this since 1988-1990.
"It was a great win for us, especially after last week against Ole Miss and going on the road to win two out of three," said senior outfielder Creede Simpson. "I think that we have proven ourselves in the past two weekends and we can hang with anybody and beat anybody on any given day."
LSU reliever Chris Cotton (2-0) got the win and Kurt McCune got the save. Both LSU and Auburn's starting pitchers received a no-decision in every game this weekend.
Auburn takes the diamond next on Tuesday at 6 p.m. when they travel to Samford to take on the Bulldogs. Auburn returns home this weekend to face off against Mississippi State in a three-game series.
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