Auburn struggled again on the mound Friday night as the Tigers dropped their second game of the series against Ole Miss, 15–11.
“We outhit these guys tonight. We didn’t quit, and we got their closer in the game,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “There were absolutely some positive things that happened with our offense late, especially the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings of the ballgame, that will hopefully benefit us tomorrow. Hopefully, we can take advantage. I respect our guys. We were much more connected tonight.”
The Tigers started off slow, just as they had the previous night, falling behind 10–2 through the first five innings. They began to creep back into the game in the later frames, scoring multiple runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.
Auburn’s biggest struggles came after Sam Dutton exited the game, and they were forced to call upon the bullpen. The Tigers were unable to match the production of Ole Miss’s relievers.
“They scored more runs off our starter, but I still thought the game was close enough,” said Thompson. “I thought the moments with the relievers—the leverage situations when they were dumped into the ballgame—were the difference. Both teams played offense and played sound enough defense. I just thought the difference was the relievers in this particular ballgame.”
Auburn had the Rebels on their heels in the top of the fourth inning, loading the bases with one out. But Ole Miss reliever Mason Morris escaped the jam with a strikeout and a groundout to end the threat.
Eric Snow later helped the Tigers cut the deficit to six runs with a two-run home run, only for the Rebels to respond with a three-run homer of their own.
Auburn first baseman Cooper McMurray capped off a four-run push across two innings with his 14th home run of the season, a towering shot over the center-field fence. But again, the Rebels had an answer, launching a two-run homer in the bottom half.
Nearly every time the Tigers began to build momentum, the Rebels responded—an all-too-familiar pattern that defined the game.
Auburn is now in jeopardy of losing its home-field advantage for the NCAA regional tournament. The Tigers will need to string together wins in the final stretch of the season to secure their hosting spot.
“We have to store this in our memory to know that we have a great offense and we can come back,” infielder Caden Irish said. “Although it sucks to lose, there are so many lessons to be learned. It’s just a regular-season game, but with that being said, when we play in the postseason, we know we have the ability to come back no matter what.”
“We were down nine tonight, and we came back and made it a game late. That’s all you can ask—to come back and make it competitive. I was proud of our guys tonight.”
The series finale between the two teams is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. CDT on Saturday, May 17, and will be streamed on SEC Network+.
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William Halliday is a junior journalism major from Memphis, Tennessee. He started with the Plainsman in fall 2022.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @wphalliday3
