Following Auburn's 7-1 Friday night win to start its series against Southeastern Louisiana, the Tigers and Lions played a doubleheader on Saturday at Plainsman Park due to expected inclement weather on Sunday. Auburn dropped both games in the doubleheader, suffering its first series loss of the season.
“I thought we played a very competitive ball club that knew their identity and what they're trying to do,” said head coach Butch Thompson. “And I thought they stayed after it from beginning to end, in Southeastern Louisiana. Thought their approaches were better. You know, our guys are gonna continue to fight. But, you know, pop-ups and strikeouts are pretty easy to defend, and (we) just couldn't link up any consistency with offense.”
In game one of the doubleheader, Auburn fell to Southeastern Louisiana 8-3. Reliever Lance Lauve (2-0) was recorded with the win, Chase Isbell (1-1) with the loss, and Jackson Rodriguez earns his first save of the season in Saturday afternoon’s matchup.
The Tigers got off to a hot start with a Chris Stanfield two-run home run over the green monster to get on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second inning. Later on in the fifth, Caden Green scored off of a sacrifice fly by Mike Bello to give Auburn a 3-0 advantage midway through the ballgame.
Auburn elected to go to the bullpen to start the sixth inning of play following a five-inning performance by Zach Crotchfelt that included three hits, three walks and five strikeouts on 82 pitches. The final four innings of play were not as kind to the Auburn pitching staff. The Tiger bullpen gave up all eight runs and 11 of the 14 total hits during the span.
“I thought Crotchfelt got us off to a good start,” Thompson said. “And then the guys that we've really used in the bullpen, they've been used a lot. So we felt pretty good about the Allsup, Isbell and Cannon and they just kept grinding through those guys.”
Kason Howell and Caden Wright led the Tigers with two hits a piece on four at-bats, but the Auburn offense was never able to answer the late-inning success of Southeastern Louisiana. The Tigers' seven-game win streak came to an end during the first game of the doubleheader.
“And then the second game, I just thought it was a carryover immediately, 40 minutes later. I thought they stayed after it. And to our guys' credit they did hang in there late,” Thompson said.
The pitching woes did carry over into the second game of the doubleheader, as Southeastern Louisiana grabbed a series win 8-7. Andrew Landry (2-1) was scored with the win, Christian Herberholz (0-1) with the loss and Lance Lauve earned his first save of the season.
Southeastern Louisiana picked up right where it left off in game one with three runs in the first two innings on five hits and an error. Four Lions had multiple hits on the day and all but two recorded a hit in the matchup.
“I thought (Southeastern Louisiana) had more competitive, consistent at-bats today. Low hard the other way, two strikes putting the ball in play and I did not think bats were near as good today,” Thompson said.
Despite the slow start for the Tigers, their late-game heroics almost saved the day. Trailing by six runs with three outs to play, Auburn took advantage of six walks and a double by Ike Irish to score five runs in a short comeback bid.
While Ike Irish and Chris Stanfield led the Auburn bats with two hits and a combined five RBIs, the offense could not overcome the pitching struggles throughout the game, leaving the bases loaded in the ninth and falling by a single run.
The losses dropped Auburn's overall record to 12-3-1 with conference play starting next weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas against the Arkansas Razorbacks. Before the conference opener, the Tigers will host Georgia Tech on Tuesday, March 14 at 6 p.m. CST. The game will be televised by the 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.
Patrick is a sophomore from Auburn, Alabama, double majoring in journalism and marketing. He started with The Plainsman in fall 2022.
