Auburn baseball drops another close game, loses series to LSU

Auburn baseball continued its struggles on Saturday, dropping its game against the LSU Tigers 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning at Alex Box Stadium

The loss marks the Tigers' 10th consecutive loss in SEC play, as their conference record falls to 2-18 on the season.

LSU won the game in the final inning of regulation, making a charge against the Auburn Tiger bullpen that has been a weak point all season long.

With a runner on second and one out, Ashton Larson singled through the right side to put runners on the corners. After power hitter Tommy White struck out, Jared Jones was intentionally walked to put a force out at any bag with two outs.

That was no worry for LSU left fielder Josh Pearson, though, as this set him up to hit a ball deep to center field over Chris Stanfield’s head, scoring Alex Milazzo and walking it off to take the series in Baton Rouge.

“We had a chance tonight in this ballgame,” said Auburn head coach Butch Thompson. “I keep telling them ‘Keep pushing through and playing hard.’ We’ve been able to have success before, and we just have to come back out here tomorrow and try not to make excuses. We just have to keep at it.”

Tanner Bauman started the game for the Auburn pitching staff, putting in good work to get his squad off the field. While he allowed a few baserunners in the first two innings, he left them stranded, getting out of the frames unharmed.

The Tiger offense took Bauman's positive momentum and ran with it in the top of the third inning. 

Deric Fabian put down a bunt to lead off the frame, earning the first hit for Auburn and advancing to second following a throwing error by pitcher Luke Holman. He advanced to third on the next at-bat that resulted in a Caden Green groundout.

This set the stage for Chris Stanfield, who has struggled with runners in scoring position this season. He took the first pitch he saw and hit a ground ball in the infield. He was thrown out at first, but the contact was good enough to score Fabian, putting Auburn up 1-0.

LSU was not phased at all by the early run, and made its first moves in the bottom half of the inning.

After two quick outs put the Bayou Bengals in a hole, White took matters into his own hands and launched a solo home run into left field to tie the game at 1-1.

With the folks in Baton Rouge alive, Jones decided to give them more to cheer about right after White’s long shot, sending one of his own over the left center wall and giving LSU a 2-1 lead.

After Auburn escaped the damage, it desperately needed to answer before things got out of hand. 

That is exactly what it did.

Christian Hall began things in the top of the fourth by drawing a walk. After Cooper Weiss struck out, Cade Belyeu was hit by a pitch, putting two runners on. 

Cale Stricklin moved both runners over on a ground out, which put Hall in a position to score on Fabian’s at-bat that followed, coming home on a wild pitch to draw the game even at 2-2.

The Auburn threat ended after that, giving Jay Johnson’s Tigers a chance to respond back. 

LSU got runners on second and third with one out before Hayden Travinski got caught attempting to steal home and give his team the lead. Milazzo then grounded out right after, ending the scoring hopes in the bottom of the fourth.

Bauman’s day ended in the middle of the fifth inning after Larson hit a single through the left side with one out. The left-handed pitcher gave way to Christian Herberholz, who got Auburn out of the inning without any more possible damage being done.

His outing was short lived, as after a quiet top of the sixth for the Tigers, Thompson brought in Cam TIlly to take the reins on the mound. 

The pitchers on both sides kept trading innings with each other, not allowing any real possible scoring threats to form that could potentially break the tie. Before both teams knew it, they were down to the final inning of the game.

In the top of the ninth, Carter Wright led the half inning off with a fly ball to right field that recorded the first out. Fabian followed that up with a flyout of his own, this one being to center field and quickly putting two outs on the board.

Green gave Auburn hope with a single into left field after having two strikes, but Stanfield then hit a hard line drive to left field that was caught, ending the frame with no damage done.

Thompson made the decision to bring Tilly out of the game after a phenomenal performance in relief, but admitted to the progress that he has seen out of the young arm.

“Tilly pitched Tuesday but had such a good look pitching behind (Chase) Allsup that you wanted to get him back out there,” Thompson said. “Seeing that he had seven strikeouts, that looks like I’ve seen absolute growth in him.”

Thompson brought in Conner McBride in an attempt to get the game to extra innings.

After runners got on the corners with just one out, it seemed like the bullpen that came out and did its job was folding once again like it had many times before Saturday’s contest. 

The worries later became reality with the bases loaded and two outs, and Pearson did what so many teams have done to the Tigers this year— beat their pitching. LSU won the game on his hit and claimed a much needed series win.

Auburn found just three hits on the day, not helping out the pitching that had the success it was looking for the vast majority of the game.

McBride earned the loss, dropping to 3-3 on the year after being in for just 0.2 innings of work. He gave up one run on three hits, while striking out and walking one batter each.

Thatcher Hurd picked up the victory for LSU, improving to 2-4 this season. He only had to pick up one out in his outing. He gave up no damage in the short appearance.

Auburn drops to 20-22 on the season as the door of opportunity to make the SEC Tournament continues to close. Meanwhile, LSU continues to tighten its grip on a postseason spot, moving to 28-16 overall and 7-13 in the conference.

Auburn will have a chance to end the series in Baton Rouge on a positive note when the two meet again on Sunday for the finale of their three-game set. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. CST and will be broadcast on SEC Network+.