Auburn wins back-and-forth, 14-inning affair at No. 20 Georgia

ATHENS, Ga. – Auburn scored seven runs in innings 12 through 14 to ultimately defeat No. 20 Georgia, 10-6, in 14 innings and even the series Friday night at Foley Field.
 
Ryan Dyal hit the go-ahead RBI double to get the scoring started in the four-run 14th. Ryan Bliss followed with a two-run home run to left center – his 10th of the year – and Rankin Woley capped off the frame with a solo homer off the batter's eye – his sixth of the season.
 
Will Morrison (1-0, 0.75) recorded the final eight outing for the Tigers, allowing just one unearned run, and earned his first career win.
 
"I just think about a program that's done what we've done the three or four years," head coach Butch Thompson said. "Since 2017, you've played at least in a regional final ever year. A program as special as Auburn, we can stomach a span like we've been through.
 
"What a program can't stomach, and what our people can't stomach, and what a coach can't stomach is just not competing with your heart every single day, letting the chips fall where they may at the end, and I got that today from our ballclub."
 
The 14-inning game was the team's longest since going 15 innings against Arkansas in 2019.
 
Bliss and Dyal led the way from the plate, combining for five hits, five runs, two homers and six RBI in the contest. Dyal hit his first career home run to take a 3-2 lead in the fifth.
 
"We just have a bunch of guys who love to fight," Dyal said. "Things haven't been going our way this season, but we're always in the fight."
 
"It's a roller coaster," Bliss added. "This game can be funny sometimes. The whole time, you just want to have some great ABs and make sure your emotions don't get too high or two low. You want to calm down in the box and trust your training, and I was able to do that today."
 
Peyton Glavine matched a season and career high with 3.0 perfect innings and five strikeouts. Joseph Gonzalez and Carson Swilling also turned in scoreless innings of relief.
 
Auburn wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard as Bliss singled through the right side on the first pitch of the game and came in to score on Steven Williams' RBI double three batters later. Brody Moore followed Williams double with an infield single, and Williams never stopped around third to score on the play.
 
Georgia got both runs back in the bottom of the first. The Bulldogs loaded the bases on three straight singles to start the game and scored on a pair of sacrifice flies in the frame.
 
After Gonzalez and Carson Skipper held Georgia scoreless in the next three frames, Dyal started the fifth inning with his first career home run over the bleachers in right field.
 
Skipper needed just 27 pitches to record the first nine outs, allowing just two infield singles through a season-high 3.0 innings. However, the junior lefty went back to work in the sixth and allowed a leadoff homer to tie the game. Swilling entered in relief after a bunt single and got out of the inning with the score remaining tied. Another single and sacrifice bunt moved a pair of runners in scoring position with one out, but Swilling induced an infield pop up and ground ball to end the threat.
 
Auburn eclipsed its hit total from Thursday night in the first five batters of the game but totaled just two more hits in the next seven innings before threatening in the ninth. Moore and Bryson Ware hit back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners with one out, but back-to-back strikeouts left the go-ahead run at third base.
 
Glavine entered in relief of Swilling to start the seventh and retired all nine Bulldogs he faced. It marked Glavine's eighth scoreless relief outing of the season.
 
Georgia drew back-to-back walks to start the bottom of the 10th, but Cody Greenhill buckled down to get a strikeout and inning-ending double play to escape the jam.
 
The Tigers drew back-to-back two-out walks to put the go-ahead run in scoring position in the 12th and both runners advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch. Bliss then came through with a two-out, two-run double down the right field line to put the Tigers ahead.
 
Auburn held Georgia hitless for 18 outs from the sixth through the 11th and issued just two walks during the span but allowed a leadoff single and two-run home run in the 12th to tie the game.
 
After Moore drove in another go-ahead run on a RBI groundout in the 13th, Georgia again tied the contest on a single, failed pickoff attempt and sacrifice fly.
 
However, the Tigers exploded for four runs in the 14th, and Morrison worked around a one-out double to keep the Bulldogs in check and end the game.
 
The series finale between the Tigers and Bulldogs is schedule for Saturday at 11 a.m. CT.