AUBURN, Ala. – In a back-and-forth affair that spanned nearly two-and-a-half hours, No. 20 Auburn outlasted Texas A&M, 7-6, to earn its first Southeastern Conference win of the season.
Auburn (24-4, 1-0) earned their seventh come-from-behind win on the season after Texas A&M (16-9, 1-3) struck first in the top of the first. However, behind Justus Perry's fifth-inning home run and Makayla Martin's effort, the Tigers hung on late.
"We made good adjustments hitting," said Auburn head coach Mickey Dean. "It's the SEC. We battled and came out on top. At the end of the day, that's what matters."
Continuing her impressive last seven days, Kendall Veach clubbed a two-run home run in the bottom of the first to cap Auburn's three-run, three-hit inning. Alyssa Rivera plated Casey McCrackin two batters before to tie the game. McCrackin struck again the following inning with a run-scoring double that plated Morgan Podany from third to give the Tigers a 4-1 lead.
Texas A&M scored single runs in the third and fourth innings to cut its deficit to one heading to the fifth inning when Perry, on a 0-2 count, launched a three-run home run — her third of the season — to give the Tigers some breathing run.
"I hadn't seen a lot of pitches, because I was hit then walked," Perry said. "But I knew what pitch I was sitting, from the scouting report, and what I needed to do in that situation."
After both teams traded zeros in the sixth, Texas A&M continued to cut its deficit as Baylee Klingler hit a one-out, three-run home run in the top of the seventh. Payton McBride followed with a full-count walk, then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt.
However, Makayla Martin ended the game with her ninth strikeout of the night. Martin's strikeout total pushed the senior right-hander past Lexi Davis (2013-16) for eighth all-time in program history.
Auburn and Texas A&M will continue their three-game series Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.