The No. 17 Auburn Tigers dropped their first game of the season to Louisiana Tech, 5-1, to open up the Rocket City Showcase in Madison, AL on Friday.
The loss marks the first of the Malveaux Era and brings the Tigers’ record to 11-1 on the season.
The Bulldogs struck first in the second inning with a two-run homer from Nicole Hammoude to center field, following two Auburn errors that allowed a runner on base.
The Tigers only recorded one hit the entire afternoon, courtesy of a one-out bunt single in the third inning by senior Rose Roach. A pair of walks later in the inning loaded the bases before the Auburn’s lone run was scored by pinch runner Thalia Martin on an errant throw from the catcher to third base.
After cutting the lead to 2-1, the score held strong until the sixth frame, when the Bulldogs posted three runs on four hits. Extending the lead to 5-1, Louisiana Tech smashed its second home run of the game with a two-run shot to left field by Reagan Marchant.
“Biggest difference was a lack of response from our team once we got behind,” co-head coach Chris Malveaux said. “That’s the first time we’ve seen that this season. We tried to snap out of it and manually do some things. At the end of the day, we were in a rut that we couldn’t get out. Louisiana Tech wanted that game.”
Sophomore LHP Chalea Clemmons (3-1) earned the start and set a career-high six strikeouts in the contest, giving up just two unearned runs off two hits over the first five innings. Clemmons exited the game after allowing four hits, four runs, and two walks after 5.1 innings of work. Hailey Rainey tossed the final 1.2 innings of relief and gave up just one earned run on two hits.
Auburn finished the game with one hit and three costly errors, good for season-worsts in both categories.
“They capitalized on every defensive mistake we made,” Malveaux said. “We’ve got to do a better job at showing up and competing. We just didn’t have that today.”
The Tigers return to Toyota Field on Saturday for a doubleheader against North Alabama, starting at 10 a.m. CST, followed by Miami (OH) immediately after. Both games are available on FloSoftball.
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Gunner is a freshman majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in the fall 2024.
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