Auburn looked like it was going to end the weekend with a clean sweep of the series against No. South Carolina, but ultimately fell short in the series finale losing 8-7.
Down two to start the bottom of the ninth, Bobby Peirce nailed the team’s fifth home run of the game and narrowed the score to a one-run game. To keep the game going, a tying run reached base off a walk and single to put some pressure on the Gamecocks. However, the game ended with a strikeout and groundout.
“I just thought the effort was tremendous,” said head coach Butch Thompson. “Bobby there in the ninth kept us engaged and (Bryson) Ware gets a hit. It just felt like we kind of ran out of outs today instead of losing the ballgame because the competitive spirit was so good.”
The series win marked the first time since 2005 that Auburn has won a series against a team ranked inside the top two.
“Great battle, all three games,” Thompson said. “If we’ll battle that way, like we did last week, if we battle like that, we’ll take whatever happens result wise. If we can keep the process and energy that will equal our true results.”
Auburn (25-18-1, 9-12 SEC) got things started with a walk followed by a stolen base by Chris Stanfield. Because of a balk, he was able to advance to third and Ike Irish scored him on a fielder’s choice.
Following back-to-back strikeouts, Bryson Ware hit his 17th home run of the season, to score two runs and extend the Auburn lead lead. Next, Cole Foster blasted a solo home run, giving the Tigers a 4-0 lead. This marked the first time Auburn hit back-to-back homers this season.
South Carolina (35-8, 14-6 SEC) battled back with a few things that ended up going their way. The Gamecocks eventually got a two-out single, walk and RBI single to cut Auburn’s lead to two.
The Tigers answered by way of Nate LaRue’s solo homer in the top of the second. It was his third in the last four SEC games.
Auburn only scored one more run up until the bottom of the seventh, which allowed South Carolina to come back and take an 8-6 lead off a three-run home run. This would be the Gamecocks first lead of the weekend.
Peirce added one more run at the top of the ninth inning to keep the Tigers in the game down one, but the tying run was left on base.
“This looked like a World Series team that we competed against,” Thompson said. “We just played the game well. I do think we were the hungrier team. Can we keep duplicating that with three weeks to go? We should be able to, and it’ll be a requirement. Our staff, our coaches and our players just absolutely did everything they could to be successful this weekend.”
Auburn will head back home to take on No. 1 LSU (35-8, 15-5 SEC) in a three-game stretch from Friday to Sunday at Plainsman Park.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
William Halliday started with The Plainsman in fall 2022. He is a journalism major from Memphis, Tennessee.
Twitter: @wphalliday3
