April 25, 2007
TROY, Ala. -
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It lasted four hours and 27 minutes and the Tigers used 20 players but Auburn could not get the winning run home as the Auburn baseball team fell, 5-4, at Troy in a 16-inning marathon on Wednesday night.
Beau Brooks blasted a home run to right off of Auburn reliever Justin Bristow (1-6) with two outs in the bottom of the 16th as Troy used three home runs to come back on Auburn time-and-time again.
Bristow, who took the ball in the top of the 16th, had entered the game as a pinch runner and also played first and third for the Tigers.
Austin Hubbard cruised through the first four innings, allowing just one of the first 13 batters he faced to reach base. He then ran into a little bit of trouble to start the fifth, allowing a leadoff single to Kevin Weidlich and a two-run home run to Edgar Ramirez with one down to make it 2-1 Troy.
A strong relay throw from Robert Brooks limited the damage to just two runs as he took a throw from Bruce Edwards off of an Ian Craze single and threw out Shohei Fujita trying to score from first for the third out of the fifth inning.
Auburn (27-17) tied the score at 2-2 in the top of the sixth when Joseph Sanders' (1-for-6, RBI) single to center scored Luke Greinke (4-for-7, R, RBI), who had singled to lead off the inning and then stole second. The Tigers reclaimed the lead two batters later when Robert Brooks (3-for-7) went down swinging on a pitch that got away from Troy catcher, Beau Brooks, who had to thrown down to first to get Robert Brooks. On the throw, Mike Bianucci (2-for-6, 2 R, 2 RBI), raced in from third and beat the throw back from Troy first baseman Josh Dew back to Brooks to give Auburn a 3-2 lead.
Troy (26-16) tied it at 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh off of reliever Bryan Woodall with an RBI single off the bat of Ramirez.
Auburn took a 4-3 lead with one down in the top of the 10th as Greinke hit an RBI double to score pinch runner Philip Stringer (0-for-2, R) only to give the lead back in the bottom half of the frame as Ramirez led off with his second home run of the night, this one coming off of Brett Butts.
The Tigers had a chance to go ahead in the top of the 15th as Brooks singled to right with Bianucci on second, but Troy right fielder Brian Miller threw a perfect ball to the plate, nailing a hard-charging Bianucci at the dish.
Edwards' diving catch of a Kevin Weidlich line drive to left-center with two on and two out in the bottom of the 15 kept the game at 4-4. It was his second diving catch of the night, also doing it in the 10th to leadoff man Ian Craze.
Bianucci had led off the second with his 13th home run of the season, a blast to deep left-center to make it 1-0 Auburn.
Greinke's single in the top of the sixth extended his hitting streak to 19 games, which is the longest by an Auburn hitter since Hayden Gliemmo hit in 21 straight games from Apr. 28, 1999 to Feb. 15, 2000. The 16-inning game was the longest for Auburn since playing a 17-inning affair on May 19, 1994 at the SEC West Tournament, a 3-1 win over Arkansas.
The teams played in front of 2,395 fans, the largest crowd in Riddle-Pace Field history.
Auburn returns home for a three-game SEC series against No. 3 Arkansas this weekend. The two teams will square off at 6pm CT on Friday, 2pm on Saturday and 1:30pm Sunday at Plainsman Park.