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A spirit that is not afraid

Auburn loses to Texas A&M in second consecutive extra-inning contest

Auburn Baseball #5 Kason Howell up to bat vs. Alabama State on Tuesday, March 1 2022.
Auburn Baseball #5 Kason Howell up to bat vs. Alabama State on Tuesday, March 1 2022.

An early 4-0 lead proved to be insufficient on Saturday against Texas A&M, as the Aggies crawled back and walked off as winners by a score of 5-4 in 11 innings.

Extra innings was no new ordeal for the squads. On Friday, it took 10 innings for a winner to be decided, and the teams decided that was not enough, as two extra innings were necessary to end game two of the series.

"The effort and what the guys did to compete and battle was tremendous,” said head coach Butch Thompson. “That's what I ask for every day. It was the same last night. That one break just didn't come out our way."

The Tigers came out swinging and got two runs in each of the first and second innings to put them up 4-0, but the Aggies chipped away at the lead from that point.

Auburn strung together three hits in the first inning, started off by a one-out double from Kason Howell to push across a pair of early runs. Howell touched the plate on a single through the right side by Cam Hill. Hill then came around to score on an error by the shortstop to further the damage.

In the second, Auburn turned to the long ball to tack onto the lead. The bottom two hitters in the lineup, Cole Foster and Mike Bello, led off the inning with back-to-back solo jacks to pad the lead.



Auburn starting pitcher Trace Bright rolled along with the bats early on. He blanked the Aggies through four frames, only giving up two hits and a walk.

From that point on, Texas A&M slowly but surely began to chip away at the lead, and Aggie hurler Micah Dallas got in a rhythm and pitched into the eighth inning, allowing them to get back in the game.

With single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh frames, the Aggies put the game within a single run going into the bottom of the eighth.

Carson Swilling, who relieved Bright in the sixth inning after his five-inning, two-run day, stayed on the mound for the eight inning. In his third frame of the day, he was not able to maintain the Tigers’ lead. 

Coming up to the plate with one out, Aggie third baseman Ryan Target stepped into the batter’s box and sent the ball flying over the right field fence to tie the game. The solo shot marked Texas A&M’s fourth consecutive inning with a run, and the score was locked at four entering the ninth inning.

After the Aggies blanked the Tigers for the seventh straight inning, reliever Chase Isbell came on for the Tigers to try to keep the game tied in the home half of the ninth and force extra innings. He was successful in that goal, setting down three Aggies in order with two punch-outs.

After Texas A&M scored in the eighth inning, a stalemate ensued that lasted until the bottom of the 11th inning when the Aggies lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to chase home the winning run.

Following a leadoff double for the Aggies in the 11th, Isbell threw a wild pitch to allow the runner to advance to third with no outs. After he induced a pop-up to second base to record the first out, Thompson made a pitching change.

The call to the bullpen went to freshman Chase Allsup, who came on for his seventh appearance of the season with Texas A&M threatening to win the game.

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The first batter to face Allsup, leadoff man Kole Kalup hit a fly ball out to mid-depth in center field for Howell, who loaded up to throw home. The throw was off, and the winning run glided across the plate to seal the win for the Aggies.

Despite 2.1 innings of strong work, only allowing two hits and striking out three with no walks, the loss went on the record of Isbell.

In his starting effort, Bright tallied five IP and six Ks while surrendering two earned runs on six hits and two free passes. He started strong with the padding his offense awarded him early on, but once the bats went cold, he did the same. He gave up a run in the fifth inning as well as one in the sixth before exiting without recording an out in the frame.

Racking up 10 hits, the Auburn bats showed some life, but couldn’t cash in any of its base runners in clutch moments late in the game. The Tigers got runners on first and second with no outs in the 10th innings before three straight were retired, and both men were left stranded.

Opposingly, Texas A&M got 11 hits, and that one extra hit in the final inning proved to be the difference in the game.

Despite the loss, several Tigers had notable individual performances in game two of the series.

Turning in a good day at the plate as well as making a spectacular run-saving snag at second base was Foster. He went 2-for-5 at the plate with a solo homer before snagging a line drive hit to his left with runners on the corners and one out in the fourth.



Leading the team in hits, Howell went 3-for-5 with a double in the contest to improve his average to .344 on the season. 

With his double to center field in the second inning, Blake Rambusch extended his hitting streak to 13 games. He also drew a walk in the 10th inning in his 1-for-4 day.

The first two games of the series have both been decided by one run. Game one went in Auburn’s favor, and the Aggies took game two to send this highly-competitive series to a decisive game three.

Auburn falls to 16-7 and 2-3 in SEC play on the year, but it will get a chance to get back in the win column and take the series in the rubber match at noon p.m. CST on Sunday from College Station.


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