AUBURN, Ala. – After falling by a run in the late stages of game one of Saturday’s doubleheader, No. 14 Auburn responded to defeat No. 8 Alabama 7-5 in game two, securing its second straight series against the Crimson Tide.
“I thought it was my favorite day with this group of guys,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “I just didn’t think they blinked. We had an extended period of time in between games. We played great last night, and we played with a will to have success in this league today. I’m thankful for that. If we can capture that and break this down tomorrow and Monday, we can grow and gain something.”
The series win marked Auburn’s third of four to start Southeastern Conference play and was the team’s seventh winning weekend in eight weeks to start the season.
“The next six weeks are going to be the same way, and we have to love this,” Thompson added. “We have to embrace it and want to be right in the middle of it. Sometimes you get knocked down. Today was one of those days of persevering because I can’t get them out on the field and train them that way. They have to go through that. To come back and win game threeagainst a club that is really good, I'm impressed with our club today.”
GAME ONE
Auburn threatened with a pair of baserunners in the first, but a hard-hit groundball from Bub Terrell deflected off the glove of a diving third baseman to shortstop Justin Lebron, who fielded with his barehand and fired to first for the third out.
With the same situation an inning later, Deric Fabian started the scoring with a two-out, two-strike single though the right side.
Alabama tied the game with three hits and a hit batter in the third, but Auburn starter Cade Fisher escaped the inning with minimal damage as he got a strikeout and flyout to strand the bases loaded.
The back-and-fourth continued as the teams traded runs in the bottom of the third and top of the fourth. Chris Rembert drew a leadoff walk and moved to third on a single from Ike Irish before scoring on a wild pitch.
Cam Tilly entered in relief of Fisher with a runner on and nobody out in the fourth and turned in 3.2 innings of work. The sophomore retired the first seven batters and nine of the 10 first batters he faced to get the Tigers through the top of the sixth inning with the score remaining 2-2.
Auburn reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the sixth as Fabian collected his third hit and second RBI of the game with a one-out single to left. However, Alabama responded for the third straight time that the Tigers scored and ultimately took the lead with two runs on four hits in the seventh.
Rembert hit the first pitch of the bottom of the seventh inning 428 feet over the War Eagle Wall in left field to tie the game, 4-4, and the Tigers took the lead with a run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth.
Alabama started the ninth inning with a leadoff double and took the lead on a two-run home run from Lebron, his 14th of the season.
Auburn’s three, four and five hitters were retired in order to end the game in the bottom of the ninth.
GAME TWO
Similar to Friday night, the Tigers came out after waiting for almost two hours in between games and struck for four runs on five hits in the first inning. Terrell started the scoring with a two-run single to left center, and Bristol Carter extended the lead to 3-0 with a single to right. Chase Fralick capped off the scoring in the frame with a sacrifice fly to center field.
Game three starter Andreas Alvarez retired the first five Alabama batters he faced, but the Crimson Tide put two aboard with a walk and hit-by-pitch and made it a one-run game with a three-run homer in the top of the second.
Auburn answered with a one-out double from Ike Irish and two-out single from Terrell in the third, extending the lead to 6-3. The freshman matched his season high with three RBI through his first two at-bats.
Griffin Graves (2-1) held Alabama scoreless for 2.1 innings of relief, his second extended relief outing of the week, and Eric Guevara added to the advantage with a solo homer to center field. The home run was Guevara’s second of the season and came in his second at-bat after entering the game as a defensive replacement in the third inning.
The Crimson Tide threatened right at the start of the seventh inning, but Guevara fielded a sharply hit ground ball at third and threw home to record the first out after having runners on second and third to start the inning. Alabama ultimately answered with two runs off Ryan Hetzler to cut the deficit to 7-5 later in the inning, but the sophomore steadied himself by retiring Alabama in order in the eighth and ninth innings to earn his third save of the season.
“It’s very special to be trusted like that,” Hetzler said. “I had a shaky first inning, but Coach Thompson came up to me and said it was either going to be a win or a loss by me. It feels great to have that trust out there and just to know I have the whole team behind me.”
Auburn (22-10, 6-6 SEC) hits the road for a midweek at No. 22 Georgia Tech (25-6, 10-4 ACC) Tuesday at 5 p.m. CT before returning home to host No. 5 LSU (30-3, 10-2 SEC) next weekend.