No. 11 Auburn (10-1-1) used a four-run seventh inning to scrape by Jacksonville State (4-8) in its first true road game of the season, 6-3.
“We responded. I thought that was the difference there in the ballgame," said head coach Butch Thompson. “It's neat to play some of these closer games and having to come from behind. Some teams can only win one way. I think we're at least learning or gaining a little confidence that we can win more than one way.”
Senior Konner Copeland started on the mound for Auburn. Copeland recorded a season-high six strikeouts with one walk in five innings.
“That's exactly what I wanted to go do today. I wanted to fill up the zone and do whatever I could do to get on and off the field as quickly as possible," Copeland said.
Christian Herberholz made a short appearance on the mound as he had one strikeout and no walks in 0.1 innings pitched. In the sixth, senior Chase Isbell recorded two strikeouts with two walks in one inning.
Northwest Florida State transfer Will Cannon finished the game for the Tigers. Cannon racked up four strikeouts with one walk in two innings while allowing two runs, both earned.
On the mound, Auburn ended the night with 13 strikeouts with four walks and two errors.
Junior Cole Foster got things rolling for the Tigers in the seventh with a single to left field, allowing Caden Green to even the score. Foster recorded four hits, two runs and one RBI, matching his career-high four hits in one game.
“We've kind of shown that all year, our two-strike ability with two outs," Foster said. "We just keep stacking on and putting things together. I think that's been really good for us lately, and I think it'll keep getting better as we grow more as [a] team. That's kind of our mantra is to be the toughest team in the box.”
Kent State transfer Justin Kirby followed Foster’s lead with a run, a double and one RBI. Freshman Chris Stanfield had two hits and two RBIs to improve his batting average to .429 while freshman Ike Irish also had two hits and two RBIs with to raise his batting average to .481.
The Auburn Tigers return home Friday to host Southeastern Louisiana in a three-game series. Game one of the series starts at 6 p.m. CST.
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Caitlyn Griffin is a sophomore from Huntsville, Alabama, majoring in journalism. She started with The Plainsman in fall 2022.
Twitter: @caitlyngrif99
