May 7, 2016
Niko Buentello had two doubles on Saturday at Alabama. (Auburn Photo)
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" Senior Justin Camp pitched six innings and allowed just two runs, but Auburn baseball fell victim to a 4-3 extra-inning loss to Alabama on Saturday at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
"Games like tonight are what rivalry is all about," Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said. "To go into extra innings and keep fighting, I thought Justin Camp and Casey Mize fought their hearts out. One pitch you would like to get back, then a recovery and 40 more pitches at a high level for Casey Mize. I think he grew like crazy tonight. They wound up getting to Burrows and we had a chance 7-8-9 to extend the lead and didn't take advantage of that.
"At the end of the day, our guys really fought and gave ourselves a chance to win. We have to come back out tomorrow and try to get a victory."
Alabama (27-20, 12-11) tied the game on a solo homer in the ninth, then won it on a walk-off error in the 11th.
Damon Haecker scored a run on an error in the third inning for an early Auburn lead. Jordan Ebert drove in a run on a fielder's choice to give the Tigers a 2-0 advantage in the third.
Niko Buentello had two doubles for Auburn (20-26, 7-16).
Alabama cut into the lead with a run in the fourth with a run-scoring double by Chandler Taylor.
Jackson Burgreen singled in a run in the top of the sixth for a 3-1 lead. The hit extended his career-best reached base streak to 16 games.
Burgreen had two hits on the night. Kyler Deese added two hits.
Alabama got one back in the seventh on a RBI single by Will Haynie to cut Auburn's lead to 3-2. Haynie connected on a solo homer in the ninth to tie the game.
He was 3-for-4 on the night with two RBI.
Justin Camp pitched into the seventh inning and allowed just two runs on five hits. He struck out three with three walks.
Casey Mize (4.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 5 K) allowed the tying run in the ninth and the winning run in the 11th to take the loss. He dropped to 2-3 on the season.
Thomas Burrows improved to 1-0 with the win in relief for Alabama.
Auburn and Alabama wrap the series on Sunday at 3 pm on SEC Network.