After being down five runs in the fourth inning, Auburn's attempted to close the gap, but ultimately fell short. Scoring four unanswered runs in the last three innings brought the Tigers within one run, but the comeback came too late and No. 19 South Carolina walked away with the victory 6-5.
"We kind of gave it away in the first four innings," said head coach Mickey Dean. "We didn't pitch well. We didn't hit well and had poor pitch selection. Our defense didn't make good decisions. I think three times we fumbled the ball in the outfield and gave up an extra 60 feet, and that runner ended up scoring. But I love our battle. Those last couple of innings, we had some kids come off the bench and made some good defensive plays. It is tough to come off and get one at bat and have success, but we had some kids do that. Even though it was a loss, I told them this is a great game to learn from, but you have to be willing to learn from it as coaches and players."
Makenna Dowell singled up the middle with an RBI to drive Alyssa Rivera in to score the Tiger's first run in the 1st inning.
Junior Aspyn Godwin hit a homerun to left field in the 6th inning, with one RBI as well as one hit.
Tyler King went two-for-two with two hits and scored one run.
Right-handed junior Samantha Yarbrough, in her first start of the season, came away with the loss. Although she had four strikeouts during her 3.2 innings, she gave up 6 runs off 6 hits as well as two walks.
Redshirt-senior Lexie Handley pitched in relief of Yarbrough and was strong. She allowed her team to fight to the end as she pitched the final 3.1 innings allowing just three hits, five strikeouts and no runs, helping to keep South Carolina from pulling away.
At the bottom of the seventh, King led off with a single up the middle. Two more Tigers were put into scoring position with one out when the Gamecocks made two errors but South Carolina’s defense made a force out at home plate for the second out of the inning.
Haley Nillen, a junior pinch hitter, closed the deficit within one run with an RBI single but the Tigers couldn’t continue the momentum and the Gamecocks held on to win with a ground ball to first base for the final out.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
Kristen is a sophomore majoring in journalism with a minor in business. She is also the host of our sports podcast, Page 8, that can be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and SoundCloud.
Twitter: @kristencarrau
