Auburn's offensive scoring struggles continued in their 3-2 loss to East Tennessee State Sunday, which means they went 1-2 in their own Tiger Classic this weekend.
The Tigers had some missed scoring opportunities early with failed sacrifice bunt attempts and a crucial base-running mistake.
Auburn's two runs came in the bottom of the fourth, when Blake Logan hit a two-RBI double to score both Jackson Burgreen and Blake Austin.
Freshman pitcher Keegan Thompson shined again on the mound but finished with a no decision due to the lack of run support.
After the first inning, Thompson threw five consecutive 1-2-3 innings. He only threw 54 pitches through his first six innings.
In the top of the seventh, ETSU's Clinton Freeman led off with a single, and a wild pitch advanced him to second. Another single and sacrifice fly followed to score Freeman and make it 2-1.
That score remained the same until the top of the ninth, when Thompson was still on the mound.
The inning started with a two-base error, which advanced Jeremy Taylor to second with no outs. A sacrifice bunt got him to third base, and Thompson switched to play first base as Terrance Dedrick came in for the save.
Dedrick's first batter that he faced, Freeman, hit a single up the middle to tie it up and send it to extra innings.
ETSU's second batter of the 10th inning, Chris Cook, hit a triple and then ended up scoring the winning run because of a sacrifice fly.
Auburn's last three batters as Dedrick got the loss on the mound.
"I'm really disappointed in just the breakdown in fundamentals," head coach Sunny Golloway said. "We'll be a work in progress, we'll get it fixed. It's going to take a lot of hard work and sleepless nights."
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