Since coach Sunny Golloway’s second season began, he’s preached to the team about adversity and toughness. For a few innings Wednesday night, it looked as if the Auburn Tigers might fall victim to that adversity, but the offense got rolling to hold off the Alabama State Hornets at home, 7-5, and bounce back from a disappointing loss the night before in Mobile.
“I talked to the team about being a club that could get some 2-out rallies going, and Alabama State comes out and puts a 2-out rally on us with five straight hits,” Golloway said. “That’s adversity, that’s baseball, and there’s no panic on our side.”
Cole Lipscomb, who is two years removed from Tommy John surgery, made his first career start and earned the win in the process. He allowed three runs in the first inning, but he settled down after that and pitched five more innings, allowing one more run in the sixth.
That first inning, especially for someone who hadn’t started a game yet, could’ve been devastating. But Lipscomb said he wasn’t worried.
“That’s just baseball,” Lipscomb said. “I knew we had nine more at-bats. Our offense has done a great job for us this year, so, when I got in the dugout, I knew we were going to score runs. I just had to settle down and pitch the rest of my game and give us a chance to win.”
Auburn (3-2) got on the board in the fourth, when Daniel Robert and Hunter Tackett hit back-to-back solo shots that sailed over the right and center field walls, respectively.
Bo Decker added another run the following inning on a shallow sacrifice fly that scored Damon Haecker, and the throw moved up the baserunners to second and third. Anfernee Grier couldn’t compound the damage, however, as he grounded into an inning-ending double play.
After Alabama State picked up another run in the sixth, Auburn tacked on four more runs, two each from a Damon Haecker double and Jordan Ebert homer.
Dalton Rentz relieved Lipscomb and pitched a scoreless seventh, but Auburn couldn’t generate any more run support in the bottom of the inning. Robby Clements came on for the eighth and gave up a home run to PJ Harris to shrink Auburn’s lead to two.
The Hornets loaded the bases in the ninth, but Justin Camp ended the comeback bid by striking out Hunter Allen to get the save.
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