Auburn battled back and forth in a nail-biter against UAB that resulted in a 6-5 loss that dropped the Tigers to 18-10-1 on the season.
It was a game that experienced two ties as well as two lead changes.
Head Coach Butch Thompson gave an explanation how he wanted his team to compete as well as what went wrong toward the end of the game.
“I just wanted them to fight,” Thompson said. “It was a good game back and forth. We got the bases loaded in the eighth, and then they loaded them in the bottom of the ninth and get the run to beat us. I just wanted our guys to fight. All of the other stuff will kind of work its way out throughout a ballgame. I liked the fight regardless of the outcome tonight.”
Auburn got on the scoreboard thanks to a sacrifice fly from Bobby Peirce during the top of the third. Drawing a one-out walk was Caden Green who advanced to third off a single by Cole Foster preceding Peirce’s long fly ball to center, scoring Green from third.
UAB (10-18), however, was the first team to put a run on the scoreboard on a pair of bases-loaded walks and a two-out, two-RBI single in the first inning. Parker Carlson made his way from the bullpen and concluded the inning with a strikeout in the first before capping off a scoreless second inning.
Following Trevor Horne in the bottom of third inning leaving the Trailblazers scoreless, the Tigers evened the score with three runs on four balls coming off the bat in the top of the fourth. With two outs, Nate LaRue walked to the plate and squeezed a hit right between the middle infielders to advance a runner closer to home plate. Green took one to the body and was able to load up the bases, and Foster batted one to left center for a two-RBI single, evening the score.
Fifth-year lefty Tommy Sheehan started well for his first time on the mound since opening weekend by striking out three batters in relief. Chase Allsup followed Sheehan in the sixth, leaving UAB scoreless that inning.
Still knotted up at four a piece in the top of the seventh, Ike Irish gave Auburn its first lead of the game with a sacrifice fly to lead a runner in to score. Green started the inning with a double down the third-base line, where eventually Irish drove him in.
After a Blazers leadoff double that scored a run to tie up the game, the Tigers were on the verge of reclaiming the lead in the top of the eighth. An error and two walks extended the inning and tacked up the bases, but UAB pulled reliever Christian Clack from the bullpen to throw one more pitch to move on with the game.
Christian Herberholz completed a dazzling bottom of the eighth inning to keep the score the same going into the ninth inning.
While Peirce was originally thought to be safe to start the inning, the original call was overturned, and Auburn did not score in the inning.
The Tigers were unable to keep four of the five UAB hitters from getting on base in the bottom of the inning and eventually gave up the game-winning run.
Auburn looks to get back on track with SEC play in a three-game series vs the Texas A&M Aggies (17-11, 3-6 SEC) in a weekend battle at Plainsman Park. First pitch is set for Thursday at 7 p.m. CST.
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William Halliday started with The Plainsman in fall 2022. He is a journalism major from Memphis, Tennessee.
Twitter: @wphalliday3
