ATLANTA – Trailing 5-3 with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the ninth inning, Steven Williams hit a three-run, walk-off home run to lift Auburn to a 6-5 victory against Georgia Tech Saturday night at Russ Chandler Stadium.
It was Auburn's first walk-off home run in the NCAA Tournament since David Ross' walk-off homer vs. Florida State en route to a College World Series appearance in 1997.
"Back-to-back days - (Steven) winds up getting a big one yesterday that kind of distanced us. I don't even know what to say about the one tonight," Thompson said of Williams' walk-off homer.
Williams swung on a 0-2 offering from Georgia Tech's Connor Thomas (9-2, 3.11) and sent it into the trees beyond the fence in right field. The bench mobbed Williams as he crossed home plate, sending the Tigers (35-25) to the team's third straight regional final.
"We've been through a lot this season and have had a lot of games where we've had to come from behind," Williams said. "We never thought we were out of it the whole entire game. Once we got a couple of guys on in the ninth, we knew we had something brewing up. We just always keep faith. We know we're a hard working team, and we can get anything done if we put our mind to it."
Prior to Williams' home run, Rankin Woley cut the three-run Georgia Tech (42-18) lead entering the inning to two with a two-out RBI single through the left side, setting the stage for the dramatic finish.
Giving the Auburn offense a chance to mount a comeback, Richard Fitts (4-3, 5.02) tossed 6.0 scoreless innings in relief en route to earning the win.
"Richard Fitts, what a special freshman outing for him. Just amazing," Thompson added. "He just didn't let them score again. That gave us a chance."
The freshman righty faced just four batters over the minimum and struck out four while coming up just an out shy of recording a season high in innings pitched.
"I felt really good about all my pitches," Fitts said. "It's probably the first time all season that I had command over all three. I was really confident. I was trying to give our team the best chance to win. Our hitters did a great. They got 11 hits tonight, and that gets overlooked because of the last hit, but they hung in there all game and they did their job."
The Tigers got the scoring in the contest started on a solo home run from Ryan Bliss on Thomas' sixth pitch of the game, but the Yellow Jackets responded with four unearned runs against Auburn starter Tanner Burns in its next at-bat.
With one out and runners on first and second, a hard-hit ball to right field that would've been the second out of the inning bounced in and out of Williams' glove and sparked a four-run rally for the Yellow Jackets.
Georgia Tech added to its lead with a run in its next trip to the plate.
However, with Fitts keeping the Yellow Jackets in check, Auburn cut into the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Kason Howell started the threat with a one-out single and moved into scoring position on a double form Judd Ward. Howell took off on chopper back to the pitcher and slide into home plate ahead of an errant throw to make it a 5-2 ballgame.
Howell, Ward and Edouard Julien each turned in a pair of hits in the contest, while William's pushed his RBI total in the two regional games to eight.
The Tigers will take on the winner of Georgia Tech and Coastal Carolina at 5 p.m. CT tomorrow for a chance to win a second straight regional title.
"We've got to stay focused," Thompson said. "I think we just talk about how good this Georgia Tech ballclub is. We've seen it three times now how special this club is. We know, we've already faced Coastal Carolina. We'll have to fight. We'll have our hands full. We'll have to come out and just execute and try to stay focused."