Texas A&M grabbed an early lead in the bottom of the third, and Auburn could not catch up Thursday night, falling to Texas A&M 9-7.
The loss dropped the Tigers to 16-9 overall and 1-6 in the SEC.
Auburn did not back down from the Aggies’ early lead. The Tigers answered being down three in the top of the fourth, scoring three runs of their own. The Aggies responded to the Tigers' three runs by scoring another three in the bottom of the fourth.
Mason Manners tied the game with his three-run homer in the fourth, but the Aggies responded well to Auburn’s momentum. They shut it down with more great offense, with a solo homer to start the frame and back-to-back walks, ending Auburn starting pitcher Conner McBride’s night in the fourth.
The fifth inning came with not much offensive action, with the help from Parker Carson holding the Aggies scoreless. However, the Aggies still had mounted a decent lead of three runs, leading 6-3 going into the sixth inning.
The Tigers scored another three runs in the sixth with help from errant throws by Texas A&M. Auburn scored three unearned runs on ground balls from Chris Stanfield and Carter Wright, tying the game 6-6.
Once again, the Aggies did not let the Tigers build more momentum and scored three runs on walks, two hit batters and a sacrifice fly, building another three-run lead.
The last scoring from either team came during the top of the seventh, from Ike Irish’s solo homer with two outs. This was Irish’s ninth of the season, and he has driven in a run in 21 of the 25 games this season. Auburn was only down 9-7, but it could not build off Irish’s homer.
Auburn reliver Dylan Watts tried to, striking out three and only allowed one baserunner in the final 2.2 innings. However, the Tigers’ offense just could not get back on pace.
“He came in and he drove the baseball, and I thought it was his best moment so far at Auburn,” said head coach Butch Thompson of Watts. “He’s absolutely grown leaps and bounds.”
Texas A&M reliever Evan Aschenbeck shut down Auburn’s chances of a comeback, throwing five strikeouts in the last four innings.
The outcome in this game came from Texas A&M’s ability to shut down any of Auburn’s chances in generating momentum. Auburn answered Texas A&M’s early lead but could not create stops in the crucial moments.
“Those shutdown innings in the fourth and the sixth when we worked so hard to score the three runs and they got them right back,” Thompson said. “The fifth run, the sixth run, the seventh run, the eighth run, the ninth runs were all either a walk or hit-by-pitch.”
The Tigers lost the first game, but according to Thompson, there are bright spots that they can build on in the next game against the Aggies, including Watts’ pitching and impressive offense.
“Up and down the lineup we had some good at-bats and battled,” Thompson added. “We didn’t make an error tonight on the road.”
Game two between the Tigers and the Aggies is scheduled to start Friday at 6 p.m. CST in College Station. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.
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Tyler Cox is a sophomore from Atlanta majoring in journalism. He joined The Plainsman in fall 2023.
