The Tigers fall short in their first game of the SEC tournament in Hoover by a score of 3-2 to the 14 seed Texas A&M Aggies. The Aggies talented roster of pitchers held the generally potent Auburn offense to just two runs on six hits, four walks, and two homers. The Tigers fell victim to a series of untimely events as they outhit the Aggies by two while also having more walks and homers throughout the game.
“We stayed true to the game, an elimination game,” Auburn head Coach Butch Thompson said about the way he approached the game, “and did everything we could to try to mix and match and change guy out. The left-right was being played there to get guys into the ballgame on the mound.”
The Tigers pitching showed up throughout most of the game with Carson Myers and Cade Fisher throwing six scoreless in relief. Auburn’s only blemish would be an unfortunate three-batter run in the top of the third inning where starter Cam Tilly gave up a single followed by a hit by pitch and home run by Aggies’ shortstop Kaeden Kent giving them everything they needed to win the game. The Tigers would have two homeruns of their own coming from Eric Snow and Lucas Steele, but they would both only be solo blasts never allowing them to gain control of the game.
“Over and over,” said Coach Thompson addressing the opportunities his pitchers gave his team to win, “Myers was great, I just felt like I wanted a lefty after the first couple of innings Myers got set, and that why you saw Fisher after him.”
Auburn’s best chance to answer came in the bottom of the eighth with one out and two on as the Tigers’ best hitter, Ike Irish, came to the plate. As Irish stepped into the box all of the Auburn fans and most of their dugout stood to their feet, consequentially the Aggies went to their pen and brought in reliever Kaidon Wilson who found a way to retire Irish on a fielder’s choice that would be ruled runner interference double play ending their eighth inning chances.
The Tigers ultimate final chance obviously came in the bottom of the ninth with Cooper McMurray, Steele, and Snow due up to hit. Following a McMurray groundout, Steele would get a hold of pitch knocking a homer to left field in the same spot Snow had hit his earlier in the game. Despite the late pressure applied by the Tigers, Wilson would continue to bear down forcing Snow to fly out. The final out would come from closer Clayton Freshcorn who would retire Deric Fabian on fly out.
“We’ll do the best we can,” said Coach Thompson regarding getting ready for Regionals, “to get back, to get back to Auburn tonight to figure out what the next steps are to get these guys prepared for a Regional at Plainsman Park.”
The Tigers will look now to the NCAA Regionals where they are expected to host their four-team bracket which will be released on May 26th determining their opponents. On the weekend of May 30th Auburn will return looking to remind the college baseball world of how dangerous they can be.
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Reid is a freshman, exploratory major. He joined the Plainsman in the fall of 2024.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @ReidFarris2
