Auburn baseball suffered a midweek home loss to Troy 8-7 as the Tigers struggled to produce runs outside the first inning.
The first inning was full of offense for the Tigers, with every lineup member getting action at the plate to produce six runs.
Hayden Murphy, Auburn starter, who had given up one run in the first inning, gave up four runs in the top of the second inning with two home runs, and the Trojans cut the lead to one, ending Murphy’s day.
The bats went cold for both squads as no runs came across for three consecutive innings, with Auburn holding the slight lead.
After three shutout innings from Parker Carlson, he began to struggle. He walked a pair of batters in the top of the sixth inning, ending his day on the mound.
Carlson finished with 3.1 innings pitched, one hit, two earned runs, three strikeouts and three walks as he picked up the loss.
Drew Nelson took over to maintain the slim lead with two runners on. After a passed ball to advance the runners, Nelson balked, allowing the runner from third to advance, tying the game.
Troy’s William Sullivan broke the tie with two outs with a single to right field, which scored the runners on second and third, but Sullivan was thrown out attempting to advance to second base.
Nelson was pulled after the inning and finished the game with 0.2 innings pitched, one hit, one earned run, one walk and no strikeouts.
Chase Isbell finished the game for the Tigers, pitching three innings of no-run ball, which gave Auburn a chance to make a comeback. Isbell ended the game with two hits, no runs, two walk and three strikeouts.
“That was a step forward for Isbell tonight,” said head coach Butch Thompson. “It was better as he went on the slider got set, and it created a little more swing and miss. He had a backwards K there in the ninth inning to (Caleb) Bartolero. That was a fastball. You could see it sink down and in instead of forcing it. We started seeing more features and thought his stuff was set better. Hopefully, that’ll bode well for us.”
Auburn cut the lead to one with a sacrifice fly from Justin Kirby, but its attempts to tie the game came up short with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning. The Tigers failed to score the tying run.
Bobby Peirce was 4-for-5 at the plate in the losing effort with one run and one RBI. Along with the base hits, Peirce notched two outfield assists with an impressive throw from the outfield grass to home plate to prevent a run from scoring.
“He's locked in,” Thompson said. “Man, I hope he can stay that way for another month or to finish. He had an amazing night, and he is one of our leaders who continues to play very consistent baseball.”
Auburn drops to 23-17-1 with another SEC series in Columbia, South Carolina, beginning Friday, April 28. First pitch against the Gamecocks is set for 6 p.m. CST and is available on the SEC Network+.
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Craig Noyes is a junior from Kensington, Maryland, majoring in journalism. He joined The Plainsman in January 2023.
Twitter: @craignoyes58
