Butch Thompson’s squad entered today’s series finale looking to avoid a sweep to start SEC play following two losses by a combined 11 runs on Friday and Saturday. Despite an improvement of play by the Tigers in their third game in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Auburn fell to No. 3 Arkansas 5-0 on Sunday afternoon.
“Kind of similar early on to the first two games, except we steadied ourselves,” said head coach Butch Thompson. “We played much better today but got the same outcome.”
The Tigers only had three hits on the offensive end, with only one in the first six frames of play. The other two came as back to back one out singles in the seventh to threaten the shut out. Arkansas however was able to hold off the Tigers with two routine outs to keep Auburn off the scoreboard.
Despite the scoring struggles all weekend on the road, positives could be taken from the mound.
“Will Cannon did an amazing job and just gave us chance after chance,” Thompson said. “If you come into Arkansas and score five runs on the weekend, it’s going to be a challenging weekend.”
Cannon, sophomore transfer from Northwest Florida State, recorded a career-best 4.2 scoreless innings to hold back the Hogs as Auburn tried to get the bats going. During Cannon’s outing, he allowed only one hit, had a season-high four strikeouts and faced two batters over the minimum in the fifth through seventh innings.
Despite getting out of a jam in the second inning, Konner Copeland gave up a three-run home run to get the scoring started for Arkansas after a two-out double and a bit batter. All five runs scored by the Razorbacks were scored in the third and fourth innings. Copeland, the Tiger starter, in 2.2 innings pitched gave up three hits and three runs on 48 pitches.
The Razorback pitching staff, that held Auburn to just five runs during the series, was led by starter Cody Adcock. Adcock held the Auburn offense to one hit with six strikeouts in six innings pitched on 82 total pitches. With the win, Adcock improves to a 2-1 record on the season while Copeland fell to 1-1.
Auburn continues to look for its first win of the conference season with an upcoming home series this weekend against the Georgia Bulldogs. But first, the Tigers will return to action at Riverwalk Stadium, home of the Montgomery Biscuits, to face South Alabama on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CST in a neutral-site midweek showdown.
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Patrick is a sophomore from Auburn, Alabama, double majoring in journalism and marketing. He started with The Plainsman in fall 2022.
