After opening the weekend by winning their fifth game in a row, the No. 19 Auburn Tigers (27-10, 5-3 SEC) fell 4-1 at the hands of the Ole Miss Rebels (21-15, 2-6 SEC) in the second game of the series.
"We need to hit our pitch,” said head coach Mickey Dean. “We kept going after the pitcher's pitch. Every time we got runners on, we kept going after that drop ball and hit it to their infielders. Too many easy plays for them. Credit to the Ole Miss pitcher, she threw well. We just need to have better at-bats tomorrow."
Annabelle Wildra got the start for the Tigers and ended up with the loss. Wildra tossed 4.2 innings, allowing four runs off of seven hits, one walk and striking four batters out. Emmah Rolfe took over for the last 2.1 innings and only allowed one hit, walked one batter and struck one batter out.
"I thought she (Rolfe) did a real good job," Dean said. "I think she really built confidence in that Oklahoma game and now she's had two really good back-to-back outings.
Catelyn Riley pitched the whole game for the Rebels. In seven innings she allowed one run off of six hits, walked two batters and struck out four.
Auburn loaded up the bases with one out in the bottom of the first inning, but Ole Miss kept the Tigers from scoring anything. Leaving runners on base was one of the biggest problems for Auburn in game two as the Tigers stranded seven runners.
Paige Smith got the scoring started in the top of the second inning with a two-run homer that put Ole Miss up 2-0. Taylor Malvin scored on a wild pitch and Jalia Lassiter doubled to left-center to bring in Taylor Whitley in the top of the fifth inning to put the Rebels up 4-0.
Auburn made some noise in the bottom of the fifth inning when Aubrie Lisenby flied out to left which allowed Icess Tresvik to tag up for the Tigers' only run. Auburn made a small push late, putting a runner on base in the bottom of the sixth inning, but the Tigers could not get a rally going.
"I want our pitch selection to be better with runners on base and not give them easy outs and double play balls," Dean said. "I want our pitchers to work ahead. We were behind 50% of the time today. And then when we were ahead, we gave up two big hits or two strikes on the batter. So those are just things you can't do."
Auburn third baseman Denver Bryant led the way for the Tigers at the plate going 2-for-3.
The final game of the series is set for tomorrow at 1 p.m. CST. A series win would go a long way for Auburn before the Tigers head to Gainesville, Florida, next weekend for a three-game series with the Florida Gators.
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Daniel Locke, junior in journalism, is the community editor for The Auburn Plainsman.
Twitter: @danieljlocke
