April 21, 2018
AUBURN, Ala. - No. 11 Auburn and 16th-ranked Arkansas split Saturday's doubleheader at Jane B. Moore Field as the Tigers secured their third-straight series over the Razorbacks and fifth SEC series win on the season. After dropped the first game 4-2 in 10 innings, the Tigers rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win the series finale 4-2 behind 2-RBI hits by Courtney Shea and Kendall Veach.
With the senior day split, Auburn improved to 38-11 overall and 11-9 in conference play while Arkansas moved to 34-11 and 9-9 in league action.
"We had to fight all night and all day, all day, all day," head coach Mickey Dean said. "I tried to tell them. I said 'look, you kicked their butts yesterday, but they are going to have some fire in them today,' and yeah, it was a battle. I'm tired. I can't imagine how the kids feel, I'm sure."
Trailing 1-0 in the top of the second inning of the first game, the Tigers recorded three straight hits to load the bases for freshman Taylon Snow. Snow singled back up the middle to plate the tying run. One inning later, Auburn took the lead on a suicide squeeze from Morgan Podany that plated Alyssa Rivera, however the lead was short-lived as the Razorbacks tied the game in the top of the fourth.
The teams then exchanged scoreless frames for the duration of the game in into extra innings before Arkansas took the lead for good on a two-run homerun from A.J. Belans to left center in the 10th inning.
Senior Victoria Draper had a big game at the plate on her senior day, going 3-for-4, while Podany added a pair of hits. As a team, the Tigers tallied nine hits.
Makayla Martin got the start in the circle and tossed 6.0 innings before being lifted in favor of Kaylee Carlson, who was the pitcher of record for all three games of the series. Carlson was charged with the loss after tossing 4.0 innings and allowing the two-run blast.
With a short memory, Carlson quickly shook off the loss and made the turn back to the circle to start the series finale. The Garden Grove, Calif. product allowed a run in both the first and second innings, but bounced back and tossed five shutout innings to close the door on the Razorbacks. The senior picked up her 65th career win in her final regular-season home game as a Tiger and improved to 19-4 on the season.
"My team was out there fighting and I was struggling a little bit in a couple innings, and I think that I just needed to show them that I was out there to fight if they were willing to fight, and they did a good job with that," Carlson said."
Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the third, Courtney Shea turned on an 0-2 pitch and sent it deep to right field just inside the foul pole for a 2-run blast and even the score. Kendall Veach then gave Auburn the lead for good with a clutch 2-RBI single in the fifth inning.
The Tigers return to action April 27-29 against Texas A&M. First pitch from College Station is set for 6:30 p.m. CT on Friday and available on SEC Network .