Auburn Baseball returned home from a disappointing road trip to Athens, Georgia, on Tuesday night. The Tigers faced the UAB Blazers at Plainsman Park, and the Blazers defeated the Tigers 4-2.
The Tigers looked to end their three-game skid after a Georgia Bulldogs sweep over Auburn with mid-week action against the Blazers for the second time this season.
Auburn visited UAB earlier this season and lost to the Blazers 6-5 on March 5 with a chance to avenge the early season loss.
An early strike from Auburn put the Tigers out in front, and an RBI single from Cooper McMurray gave them a 1-0 lead, similar to their last meeting when they jumped out to a 2-0 lead.
Just like in the first game in March, the Tigers' lead failed to hold when a two-run home run by Todd Clay in the top of the fourth inning launched the Blazers in front of the Tigers for a 2-1 lead.
Chris Rembert tied the game in the same frame with an RBI double to even things up at two a piece.
The fifth-inning RBI double was Auburn's last run of the game, and the Blazers capitalized on the mishaps of relief pitcher Jackson Sanders, who was pulled after allowing two runners on base in the top of the fifth inning and straddled with all four earned runs.
After scoring 13 runs in the Tigers' last two games against Georgia, UAB held them to only two runs and had seven runners left on base. However, the pitching unable to keep up with the offense, as it has allowed 22 runs in the Tigers' last three outings.
“It was a beautiful night, great crowd, but I thought that was the most lifeless offensive performance that we’ve had,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “We’re in between (pitches). I don’t think we’re being aggressive enough, and we need to go back to the drawing board. The thing about baseball is we have three more games this week. We get to get right back out there.”
After Sanders exited the game, Ben Schorr and Griffin Graves teamed up to pitch the last 4.2 innings without allowing a run, striking out five batters without issuing a walk. Both delivered their longest outings of the season.
In the losing effort, McMurray delivered a three-hit game with an RBI, while Ike Irish and Rembert each tallied two hits of their own.
The Blazers dropped Auburn to 20-9 on the season and extended the Tigers losing streak to four straight games, the longest of the season. Before the streak began, Auburn had failed to lose two games in a row.
The Tigers will try to turn things around when they welcome in-state foe Alabama to Plainsman Park on Friday for a three-game series.
The first pitch for the weekend series will be at 6 p.m. CST, and the game will be broadcast on SEC Network.
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Craig Noyes is a senior from Kensington, Maryland, majoring in journalism. He joined The Plainsman in January 2023.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @CraigNoyes58
