Feb. 14, 2007
AUBURN, Ala. -
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The Auburn baseball team's season-opening three-game winning streak came to an end on Wednesday as the Tigers fell to Lipscomb, 4-3, in 12 innings at Plainsman Park.
"We pitched well enough to win, we just did a poor job on offense tonight," AU Head Coach Tom Slater said. "Taylor Thompson was very good in his first start here at Auburn. Scott Shuman was outstanding out of the bullpen once again, but the bottom line is we have to be better offensively."
Auburn's pitching was again very solid, allowing just two earned runs while striking out 11. Taylor Thompson went 4.2 innings in the starting role and allowed two runs on four hits and two walks while striking out four.
"Taylor was good and I was really happy with his outing. He commanded the strike zone with both his fastball and slider," Slater said.
Johnny Thompson (0-1) took the loss for Auburn, allowing an unearned run on two hits in 2.0 innings.
Lipscomb (2-2) put the winning run on the board when Caleb Joseph's two-out double down the line in left scored Ben Williams, who had reached on an error and stole second.
Auburn had built a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third thanks to two Lipscomb errors and two wild pitches that scored Luke Greinke (1-for-5, R) and Josh Donaldson (2-for-5, 2B, R).
Lipscomb tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the fifth thanks to a pair of RBI doubles only to see Auburn retake the lead in the sixth on freshman Ross Smith's (1-for-5, 2B) RBI double that scored Robert Brooks (2-for-6, R, RBI, SB) from third.
Lipscomb had sent the game into extra innings by scoring an unearned run on two passed balls and a sacrifice bunt in the top of the eighth.
Charles Williams (1-0) earned the win with 3.0 innings of hitless relief and Taylor Merry earned his first save of the season for Lipscomb.
The two teams combined for 18 hits and nine errors but left a combined 22 runners on base.
Auburn, which suffered its first loss of the season to fall to 3-1, returns to the field on Friday afternoon at 3pm CT for the first game of a three-game series against UNC Greensboro.
GAME NOTES
Mike Bianucci kept Lipscomb from taking the lead in the top of the 11th, throwing out Shane Simpkins at the plate on the back-end of a double-play ... Taylor Thompson struck out the first batter he faced on three pitches ... Auburn wore their orange jerseys for the first time this season.