Auburn dropped Saturday's series finale to Alabama by a score of 10-9. The Tigers drop to 2-13 in SEC play.
Joseph Gonzalez started on the mound for the Tigers. However, he only lasted 1.1 innings and gave up three earned runs off of four hits. The bullpen was tasked with eating the remaining innings, with five different relievers taking the mound for Auburn.
The Auburn bats, however, got off to a better start than the pitching staff. They opened the scoring in the top of the first, with Steven Williams hitting an RBI single to score Ryan Bliss. The offense continued to take advantage of Alabama starter Connor Prielipp, who made his first start in SEC play.
After two sacrifice flies and a bases-loaded walk drawn by Bliss, Auburn took a 5-2 lead into the bottom of the second.
The offense finished with 14 hits along with seven walks on the night. Cam Hill, who took the DH spot, finished 3-for-4 along with a walk on the night.
“It was very similar to the Thursday night game, just battled back and forth,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “We both scored early. I’m looking at the middle of the game here where we continued to score a little bit. Then late in the game they kind of took over.”
After taking a three-run lead into the bottom of the fourth, the Tigers turned to Peyton Glavine, who responded with three scoreless innings, only allowing two hits and no walks.
However, the rest of the bullpen failed to emulate his success, and things were all tied up heading into the ninth. After Auburn failed to capitalize on a couple of one-out singles in the top of the frame, Alabama's Jim Jarvis hit an RBI double to walk it off in the ninth.
This game marks the Tigers' 13th SEC loss in 2021 and is their eighth loss by only one run.
Auburn returns to Plainsman Park to host Samford on Tuesday. The first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. CST with the game airing on SEC Network-plus.
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.
Dylan Fox, Junior in Civil Site Design Engineering, joined The Plainsman as a sports writer in Spring 2020. From Geneva, IL.
