March 14, 2018
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AUBURN, Ala. -- Trailing 4-1 at the seventh inning stretch, Auburn scored three runs in the seventh and another in the eighth to mount a come-from-behind win and defeat Memphis, 5-4, Wednesday afternoon at Plainsman Park.
The win was Auburn's sixth this season when trailing or tied in the eighth inning and improved the Tigers' record to 17-1, matching the 1997 season for the best 18-game start in program history. The victory was also Auburn's fifth one-run win this season.
With runners on the corners and one out in the bottom of the eighth, Luke Jarvis stepped to the plate in a pinch-hitting role and ripped the first pitch he saw from Memphis reliever Takoda Metoxen (0-1, 7.20) into left field to score Edouard Julien and give Auburn the lead.
Left-hander Welby Malczewski (1-0, 7.36) earned the first win of his career after retiring the visiting Tigers in order in the ninth, including a pair of strikeouts. He logged a career-high 2.0 innings and struck out a career-high four batters.
"We've been a resilient ball club," head coach Butch Thompson. "That's the sixth time or so we've been able to come up with something in our last at-bat or late in the ballgame. We've just hung in there. Once we got to the bullpen, we were able to put up a three-spot and string it together. The guys have just played steady. They've acquired a skill of being able to stay in there and feel like they're always within striking distance."
Memphis broke a 1-1 tie with a pair of runs in the fourth inning and tacked on another in the seventh. However, after Ryan Watson pitched 3.1 innings, Auburn's bullpen combination of Blake Schilleci, Corey Herndon and Malczewski kept the Tigers in the game with a strong 5.2 innings of relief. Each of Auburn's relievers matched or recorded a season-high in innings pitched.
Schilleci took over with one out and the bases loaded in the fourth inning and did a good job of minimizing the damage. He allowed just one inherited runner to score on a sacrifice fly and kept the Tigers' deficit at two. The Birmingham native matched a season-high with 1.2 scoreless innings and allowed one hit with one strikeout. He threw 22 pitches, 19 of which were strikes.
Stepping to the plate with a three-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh, Auburn was able to capitalize on a pair of walks, wild pitches and balks from the Memphis bullpen to get to within a run of the visiting Tigers. Brendan Venter then stepped to the plate and tied the game on a RBI double into the left-center-field gap.
In their next at-bat, Julien started the inning with a leadoff single and advanced to second on a nicely-executed hit-and-run before crossing home plate on Jarvis' go-ahead single.
Offensively, Julien extended his hitting streak to six games. He has turned in multiple hits in two straight games and four of his last six. Will Holland went 1-for-4 with a walk and extended his on-base streak to all 18 games this season.
Auburn opens conference play with a three-game series against No. 6 Texas A&M (16-2) this weekend. The series opener between the Tigers and Aggies is set for Friday at 7 p.m. CT at Plainsman Park followed by game two Saturday at 2 p.m. and the finale Sunday at 1 p.m.