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A spirit that is not afraid

Auburn late-inning rally evens series against Arkansas

In the second game of a critical SEC West series, No. 18 Auburn scored twice in the eighth to take a 5-3 win over No. 3 Arkansas. With the win, the Tigers evened the series against the Razorbacks and set up a decisive game three on Sunday.

“We reset, regrouped and forgot a lot of last night and didn’t carry it to the park today,” said head coach Butch Thompson. “I think they kept this one game in mind, and I thought we played good the whole day. I thought we were steady in everything we did.”

While typical stars Sonny DiChiara, Brooks Carlson and Blake Rambusch played key roles in the Tigers’ win, two other players got their moments in the spotlight as Auburn clawed out a win.

“You think about guys that don’t get to play each and every day and they wait their time and they keep working,” Thompson said.

Carson Swilling, who came into the game with a 1-2 record and an ERA of 6.75, got the win. Swilling pitched the final two innings for the Tigers and allowed just one batter to reach - the first batter he faced.

Mason Land, who prior to Saturday’s game had just 16 plate appearances and just one RBI, batted in the game-winning run in the eighth on a safety squeeze bunt.

“It’s awesome,” Land said. “It’s a great atmosphere out here. It’s a big school over there, Arkansas, top 10 team in the nation - you can’t ask for anything else.”

Auburn’s starter, as usual for Saturday contests, was Trace Bright. Bright went 4.2 innings while allowing just two runs. Bright showed sparks of brilliance, retiring the side on eight pitches in the first inning and allowing just two hits during his outing. 

Bright, however, had issues with control throughout his time on the mound, issuing five walks and hitting one batter. Bright had never walked more than three hitters in a game before Saturday.

That led to another extended outing for the bullpen, starting with Chase Isbell. Isbell lasted 2.1 innings, allowing just one hit and one run while striking out three and walking one. Of the nine batters Isbell faced, three reached. Most importantly, though, Isbell got Auburn through the dangerous middle innings, a time when damage can be done against a bullpen.

In the eighth, Swilling was called upon to replace Isbell. With the exception of a hit batter, Swilling was perfect, retiring the final six he faced.

It was a performance that the Auburn bullpen desperately needed after giving up nine runs in Friday’s loss. That night, the bullpen allowed eight hits and walked four.

On Saturday, it experienced a complete turnaround. Between Isbell and Swilling, Arkansas got just one hit, one run and one walk over the course of 4.1 innings.

“It just shows how everyone on this team competes,” Swilling said. “We’re going to go after you and we’re not going to give up. That’s just our mindset this whole year.”

Before the eighth inning, Auburn’s damage came via the long ball. Three times, Auburn hit solo home runs.

Carlson was the first to homer, hitting it 380 feet into right-center field to lead off the second inning.

DiChiara followed the next inning, leading off the third with a 415-foot blast that hit the scoreboard, his 14th home run of the season.

In the seventh, Rambusch hit an opposite field homer, hitting it 378 feet into right-center.

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“I really started thinking we had a shot when Rambusch hit that opposite field home run,” Thompson said.

The teams went back-and-forth during the game. Every time one team scored, the other responded.

The Razorbacks scored first in the second inning with an RBI single through the left side. In the bottom of the frame, Carlson hit his home run.

After DiChiara homered in the third inning, Arkansas responded with a run in the fifth, as a leadoff double came home to score on consecutive groundouts.

The Razorbacks took the lead again in the seventh, as a lead-off walk scored on a sacrifice fly. Again, Auburn responded in the bottom of the inning with Rambusch’s home run.

Arkansas, however, had no response to Auburn’s final rally in the eighth inning.

Against Arkansas closer Brady Tygart, Carlson drew a one-out walk to begin the rally. Brody Moore followed with a single to advance Carlson to third.

Then, Land’s bunt scored pinch runner Garrett Farquhar as Tygart threw the ball away, allowing Moore to reach third.

“I knew it was going to come down to a big situation,” Land said. “I had an opportunity there and made the best of it.”

A Cole Foster sacrifice fly plated Moore to cap off the scoring in the eighth.

Swilling set the Razorbacks down in order in the ninth to preserve the win, much to the delight of the 3,875 fans in attendance.

“I heard the crowd stand up and start clapping,” Swilling said. “I usually try to stay calm but I kind of had another adrenaline shock and I was like, ‘This is it. This is what we’ve worked for our whole life to be in moments like that.’ It was a cool experience.”

Now, Sunday’s contest becomes the decisive game in the series. In rubber games this season, Auburn has a 3-3 record. Three of Auburn’s four SEC series wins have been earned in the final game.

“Rubber matches have been going okay for us this year,” Moore said. “We’ve got a lot of heart and faith behind Joseph Gonzalez tomorrow and we’re going to play good defense behind him and we’re going to compete.”

Auburn will start Gonzalez, a right-handed sophomore, who has a 6-1 record with a 2.30 ERA. Arkansas will counter with sophomore right-hander Jaxon Wiggins, who is 5-1 with an ERA of 5.75.

“Gonzalez versus Wiggins, that should be a good one,” Thompson said. “I’m looking forward to it.”

It is a contest that will have a tremendous impact on the SEC West standings. With the win on Saturday, Auburn (32-15, 13-10 SEC) closed to within two games of the first-place Razorbacks (35-12, 15-8 SEC). A win on Sunday could put the Tigers just one game back.

The series-deciding game will begin at 1 p.m. at Plainsman Park and will be streamed live on the SEC Network+.


Matthew Wallace | Assistant Sports Editor

Matthew is a senior from Huntsville, Alabama, majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in fall 2021.

Twitter: @mattwallaceAU


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