If Auburn earns its third consecutive series win, it will have to come in game three on Sunday. The No. 25 Tigers (21-10, 6-5 SEC), riding high after their 5-1 win over No. 12 Vanderbilt on Friday night, suffered a 19-4 loss to the Commodores (22-8, 5-6 SEC), evening the series at one game a piece.
"We trust our club enough to put this game behind us," said Auburn head coach Butch Thompson. "I see this series as 1-1, and we're trying to fight to win a series. Game three is all about the fight."
Few could have seen the rout coming in the first inning, when Sonny DiChiara hit the 50th home run of his college career, putting the Tigers up 1-0 and sending the capacity crowd into a frenzy. It was the loudest the crowd got all day.
Auburn started Trace Bright on the mound. The right-handed junior looked good through three innings, with a single and two walks the only blemishes for the Auburn starter at that point.
The fourth inning was a different story. Spencer Jones led off the inning with a solo shot for the Commodores. With one swing of the bat, the game was tied. A double and a single later, Javier Vaz was at the plate for Vanderbilt.
Vaz, who had just made a leaping catch to rob Brooks Carlson of an RBI double, hit Vanderbilt’s second home run of the inning. Auburn went from a 1-0 lead to a 4-1 deficit before recording an out in the fourth.
In all, Vanderbilt racked up with two singles, four doubles and two home runs in a nine-run fourth.
In the bottom of the fourth, Nate LaRue hit a two-run homer to cut the Vanderbilt lead to 9-3, but it was far too little to offset what the Commodores had accomplished in the top of the frame.
With such a large deficit, Thompson decided to use a multitude of relievers for short stints of work. The Tigers utilized six different pitchers throughout the night.
“The score doesn't matter. You have to keep trying to get some guys in there,” Thompson said. “It just got tough.”
Vanderbilt continued its onslaught, scoring once in the fifth, twice in the sixth and once in the seventh. The Commodores capped off their day by hitting two three-run homers in the ninth inning to finish with 19 runs, their most of the season.
Meanwhile, Auburn only scored once more, when a wild pitch brought home Cole Foster in the eighth.
Statistically, it was the worst defensive performance of the season for Auburn. The Tigers’ previous high in runs allowed was 15, in a March 19 contest against Ole Miss.
Of Vanderbilt’s 23 hits, 14 went for extra bases. The Commodores rank third in the SEC with 67 doubles on the season, including 10 on Saturday.
Vanderbilt also added four homers to bring its total to 36, tied for seventh in the conference.
Auburn, meanwhile, hit two home runs of its own to bring its total to 32, which ranks 10th in the conference.
In the SEC West, Auburn is currently in a three-way tie for second with LSU and Alabama, all with identical 6-5 records. First-place Arkansas is 8-4.
In the Eastern Division, Vanderbilt ranks third, behind 7-4 Georgia and the only team without a conference loss, No. 1 Tennessee.
With the series on the line, Auburn will send right-hander Joseph Gonzalez to the mound to start Sunday’s game. Gonzalez, who is 3-0 with a 2.31 ERA, will face off against Vanderbilt right-hander Patrick Reilly. Reilly is 2-1 with a 1.21 ERA.
The series finale from Plainsman Park will begin at 1 p.m. CST and will be streamed on SEC Network+.
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.
Matthew is a senior from Huntsville, Alabama, majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in fall 2021.
Twitter: @mattwallaceAU
