March 20, 2016
Anfernee Grier hit a 3-run homer on Sunday, his fifth of the year. (Auburn Athletics Photo)
AUBURN, Ala. ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" Juniors Anfernee Grier, Niko Buentello and Daniel Robert all homered, but Auburn baseball fell 12-10 on Sunday to No. 2 Texas A&M in the series finale at Plainsman Park.
"I don't like the moral victory thing in the Southeastern Conference," Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said. "It was a hard-fought split yesterday and we fought our guts out today. The guys battled until the end and they catch a ball at the wall to end the ballgame. For our guys to claw back and get the tying run to the plate, then they catch a ball at the wall. I'll take the effort. We have to get better, especially on the mound, we have to get better but I love how our guys play and fight."
Buentello doubled off the wall in left to score Ebert cutting the deficit to two and Jackson Burgreen's long fly ball was caught at the wall in left centerfield to end the game.
Auburn (10-10, 1-2) scored a total of 27 runs and recorded 38 hits in the series. The 27 runs scored were Auburn's highest total in a SEC series since 2012.
Buentello finished 2-for-5 with a homer, double and two RBI to increase his total to 33 ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" the top in the SEC.
The Tigers' three homers on Sunday marked the first time Auburn had hit three home runs in a SEC game since blasting three round-trippers at Texas A&M on April 6, 2013.
Texas A&M (18-2, 2-1) took the lead in the first on a solo homer, but Auburn got on the board with a 3-run home run by Grier in the third inning that put the Tigers up 3-1. The homer extended Grier's hitting streak to 21 games.
The Aggies chased Auburn starter Cole Lipscomb in the fourth as it strung together nine hits and scored eight runs to re-take the lead, 8-3. Lipscomb was charged with seven runs on seven hits with four strikeouts. He took the loss to drop to 1-2 on the season.
Regular midweek starter Andrew Mitchell make his second bullpen appearance of the season and completed four innings with four runs (three earned) allowed and three strikeouts.
Auburn kept battling and added four runs in the fifth and sixth innings on a 2-run triple by Joshua Palacios and the solo homers by Buentello and Robert to make it 9-7.
Texas A&M got some insurance with three runs in the eighth on a pair of triples, but Auburn continued to fight and got two back in the bottom half to make it 12-9 going to the ninth.
Kyler Deese was 2-for-3 with two RBI.
Boomer White and JB Moss both had three RBI for the Aggies.
Kyle Simonds allowed seven earned in 5.1 innings, but got the win to improve to 4-0. Ryan Hendrix got his fourth save.
Auburn is in action next on Tuesday when it hosts Alabama State.