The Auburn Tigers (18-11-1, 3-7 SEC) fell 9-5 in the first game of the series against the Texas A&M Aggies (19-11, 4-6 SEC) marking the team's fourth loss in a row.
“We didn't score the last six innings,” said head coach Butch Thompson. “It was two-out hitting in the third. [Bobby] Peirce, [Ike] Irish, [Bryson] Ware, [Cooper] McMurray and Kason [Howell] got to start it with a double on a ground ball down the line. We got our five runs but really never challenged to score after that. That was the difference offensively. Texas A&M challenged to score every inning.”
Will Cannon got the start for Auburn and allowed two runs off of five hits, walked one batter and struck out three in three innings of work. Zach Crotchfelt pitched one inning, allowed one run off of one hit, walked one batter and struck out one batter.
Tanner Bauman picked up the loss for the Tigers in a 4.1-inning effort in which he allowed six runs off of four hits, walked three batters and struck out four. Drew Nelson pitched the last 0.2 innings and allowed one hit and struck one batter out.
The pitching performance marked the fourth-straight game where Auburn pitchers have allowed six or more runs. The Tigers lost all four of those games.
Nathan Better got the start for Texas A&M and went for 5.2 innings in which he allowed five runs off of six hits, walked four batters and struck out 11. Evan Aschenbeck earned the win for the Aggies in a 3.1-inning effort in which he gave up no runs off of two hits, no walks and struck four batters out.
Designated hitter Ryan Targac hit a single in the top of the second inning that scored third baseman Trevor Werner to get the scoring started. Right fielder Brett Minnich doubled in the top of the third inning to score shortstop Hunter Haas and extend the Aggies' lead to 2-0.
Auburn went on a rally in the bottom of the third inning. Left fielder Peirce hit a single that drove in center fielder Kason Howell and put the Tigers on the board.
Designated hitter Irish followed that up with another single that scored shortstop Cole Foster. Third baseman Ware singled home Peirce. First baseman McMurray hit a double that drove in Irish and Ware. Auburn held a 5-2 lead when the Aggies managed to get the third out.
Left fielder Jace LaViolette hit a sole home run in the top of the fourth inning and Targac hit one in the top of the sixth to cut the Aggie's deficit to one.
Texas A&M took back control of the game in the top of the seventh inning, however, as the Aggies scored four runs. Haas scored on a wild pitch, and Werner hit a three-run homer.
The Aggies added on one more run in the top of the ninth inning when Targac hit a sacrifice-fly that allowed pinch runner Kasen Wells to score.
First pitch for game two is set for Friday at 1 p.m. CST. The series finale could potentially be moved to Sunday as well due to weather. If that were to happen, first pitch would be approximately 45 minutes after the completion of the first game.
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Daniel Locke, junior in journalism, is the community editor for The Auburn Plainsman.
Twitter: @danieljlocke
