In Game 3 of the series, and first game of a Saturday doubleheader, Auburn pulled off the win in extra innings.
With the game tied 3-3, Conor Davis hit an RBI single to get the Tigers the 4-3 win over No. 7 Georgia in the bottom of the 10th.
“Conor keeps coming up big in those situations,” said Auburn head coach Butch Thompson. “And that was a huge at bat, a huge win.”
In similar fashion to Game 1 of the series, Auburn took the 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second. Will Holland hit a solo homer to get Auburn the early advantage. He went 3-for-4 for the game, and he had three of Auburn’s eight hits. He had two RBIs in the first game of the day.
Georgia (39-14, 18-9 SEC) answered will a solo home run of its own in the top of the third. Auburn scored two more in the bottom of the fourth. Georgia scored a run in both the fifth and sixth innings to get the game to the 3-3 tie.
Auburn (30-21, 13-14 SEC) went to its bullpen in the sixth. Tanner Burns got the start, and he allowed three runs on six hits while striking out four. Elliott Anderson took the mound to get Auburn the last out of the sixth. Cody Greenhill came in for the Tigers to start off the seventh, and he was lights out for four innings.
“I thought Tanner Burns and Cody Greenhill were excellent,” Thompson said. “Those are out two best bullets that we had left.”
Greenhill kept the Bulldogs at bay, allowing only one hit and one walk. Georgia also went to its bullpen in the seventh, sending in freshman pitcher Cole Wilcox. Auburn was able to get to Wilcox in the ninth with Rankin Woley doubling to put the winning run in scoring position. Auburn was unable to get Woley across the plate, sending the game into extra innings.
In the bottom of the tenth, Judd Ward hit a single. Ryan Bliss, who had two hits in the game, followed with a single that allowed Ward to advance to third. Davis came through with the third single of the inning to get Ward home and the Tigers the win.
Greenhill got the win, his second of the year, and Wilcox was credited the loss, his first for the season.
In Game 3, the second game of the day, Auburn fought hard but was unable to get the win. It lost 10-8 to give Georgia the series win.
In the top of the sixth, Georgia scored three runs to take a 7-2 lead. The inning started with two walks to get runners on first and second with one out. Then the Bulldogs hit a single, and Auburn had an error which allowed two to score. The third run scored on a single up the middle.
Auburn answered with four runs in the bottom half of the inning to get back in it. Ward and Bliss hit back-to-back singles. Davis walked and Matt Scheffler doubled to score two. Woley hit a single to score two more.
Bliss went 3-for-3 in the game and 5-for-8 for the day. He scored five runs and had one RBI.
“He was ready to hit,” Thompson said. “I thought every 0-0 he was ready to pull the trigger. I thought he was seeing the ball great.”
Auburn tied the game at 7-7 in the bottom of the seventh when Bliss singled and scored on a single from Scheffler.
“I thought our offense was just resilient as they could be,” Thompson said.
In the bottom of the eighth, all it took was three hits to turn the tide back in Georgia’s favor. It started off with back-to-back singles from Shane Marshall and Randon Jernigan. Then Cam Shepherd hit a three-run homer of off Blake Schilleci to make it a 10-7 game for the Bulldogs.
Georgia had a trio of three-run innings in the game. Both the first and eighth innings featured three-run homers from the Bulldogs.
“Georgia showed up too much with their offense,” Thompson said. “To begin and end the ballgame, and those bookend three-run home runs were too much for us to overcome.”
Auburn got one back in the bottom of the ninth on a single by Ward and a sacrifice fly from Bliss.
"I just thought the guys battled for 18 innings," Thompson said. "We faced what I think is a national seed. Our players really wanted to have success against a great, great ball club this late in the year."
Auburn will face UNA on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CST at Plainsman Park. Then the Tigers travel to No. 15 LSU for its last SEC series that starts on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. CST in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
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