No. 13 Auburn pulled out a comeback 12-11 victory against Lipscomb Saturday due to a walk-off single from freshman Ike Irish.
“I’m so thankful for this offensive group,” said head coach Butch Thompson. “We just keep playing.”
The Tigers (8-1-1) were down 11-9 entering the eighth inning until Bryson Ware flexed his muscles to hit a game-tying two-run home run.
"That's a really good ball club we're playing there, and no lead is safe with a team that can swing it like that," Ware said. "They got a late lead, but this club, with the fight we have in us, no lead was safe for them either. We tried to stay in it the best that we could, and thankfully it worked out for us."
Ware's home run tied the game and brought in two of the three runs Auburn scored in the last two innings. In the ninth, with the bases loaded and one out, Irish continued his early-season success with the winning single. It was Irish's third hit of the game.
“I was thinking ‘the bigger the moment, the softer and smaller I swing,’” Irish said. “I just thought ‘I’ve got to put a ball in play here and good things happen.’”
Lipscomb’s Alex Vergara set the tone with a solo homer in the top of the first, but Auburn answered with seven runs of its own in the second, with nine straight batters reaching base with two outs.
The hot bats continued as Lipscomb (5-5) scored nine more runs in the first four frames, including six runs in the fourth inning — all with two outs.
Auburn starter Christian Herberholz pitched three innings, giving up six hits and four runs. Konnor Copeland gave up four runs in just 0.2 innings in a rare tough outing. Copeland's season ERA rose from 1.59 to 7.11 during the game's fourth inning alone.
Auburn pitcher Chase Isbell settled in to pitch a career-best 3.1 innings with seven strikeouts.
“Chase Isbell, he was part of the six-run innings with two outs and then, all of a sudden, the slider got set beneath the hitters and the fastball got a little length,” Thompson said.
Will Cannon (1-0, 1.50 ERA) got the win for the Tigers giving up one run on two hits in the final two innings. Though he let a lead-off walk score in the eighth inning, Cannon stranded two in the top of the ninth to set up Irish's game-winning hit.
Auburn totaled 17 hits, led by three hits each from Ware, Irish and shortstop Cole Foster. Six Tigers had multiple hits in the game and of the 17 hits, nine were for extra bases.
Auburn will now set its sights on a series sweep Sunday, as the series finale at Plainsman Park will begin at 1 p.m. CST and will be streamed live on the SEC Network+. Auburn freshman LHP Zach Crotchfelt (0-0, 7.36 ERA) will make his first career start and will face Lipscomb RHP Braydon Tucker (0-0, 4.09 ERA).
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