The spirit of Independence helped the Auburn Tigers as they defeated No. 1 LSU 8-6 on Saturday night. It was the Tigers' 12th comeback win this season.
Before the game started, the bald eagle Independence flew for the first ever "War Eagle" flight at Plainsman Park. This was only the third time that an Auburn eagle flew outside of Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Tommy Vail, a graduate student, started the Tigers off hot, earning eight strikeouts over four innings before senior Konner Copeland came in for the top of the fifth.
The game saw 11 different pitchers, five from Auburn and six from LSU.
Auburn’s pitching saw some positives, as LSU left the bases loaded three times — the third, fourth and sixth innings.
“Again, not perfect but it’s absolutely growing, getting better. And so I love to see it,” said head coach Butch Thompson.
LSU was able to score first with an unearned run in the top of the second inning, as LSU shortstop Jordan Thompson reached on a throwing error and scored on a single.
At the end of the third inning, LSU was up 2-0, adding one run in the frame — the only earned run Vail let the gold and purple Tigers score.
Auburn's hitting started slow as the home Tigers could not capitalize on any hits. Bobby Peirce led Auburn with two hits.
“I thought Bobby Peirce, he had an at-bat at the bottom of the fourth that turned the whole game for us...I thought our at-bats got better from that one, you know, at-bat,” Thompson said.
In the fourth inning, LSU assistant Josh Jordan was ejected from the game, further contributing to a wild contest.
After a few minutes of confusion, play resumed and Auburn scored its first run of the game. Auburn’s bats started to heat up as the Tigers took the lead in the bottom of the fourth on a wild pitch and two bases-loaded walks.
LSU retook the lead in the fifth, but Auburn quickly regained it by scoring four runs in the bottom of the sixth on three RBI singles and a sacrifice fly.
In the seventh, Auburn gave up one run but answered when Bryson Ware hit a home run — his 19th this season.
“Scouting report on (LSU relief pitcher Sam Dutton) was that he was gonna throw a lot of breaking balls, the first four pitches I got were fastballs so I knew he was gonna make a mistake at some point and I just tried to battle as much as I can, thankfully (Dutton) hung one and got just enough of the plate,” Ware said.
The hits started to slow for Auburn as the game entered the final innings. In the top of the eighth, LSU added another run to its score making Auburn’s lead 8-6 going into the final frame.
Will Cannon was the closing pitcher for Auburn. He had three strikeouts and allowed two hits over three innings of work. The last pitch came down to a full count, with Cannon striking out LSU left fielder Tre' Morgan to strand two runners and end the game. In total, Auburn pitching stranded 13 LSU baserunners.
“We've got our work cut out for us tomorrow, we know that, but absolutely excited to get this one, to have a chance to come out here and win a series,” Thompson said.
The Tigers face LSU for the series finale on Sunday at 1 p.m. CST. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.
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Lily has been with The Plainsman for three years and started out as a Sports Writer before becoming the Operations Editor. She graduates in May of 2024 and is from Washington, D.C.
