COLUMBIA, Mo. – Auburn fell short in the regular season finale, losing 7-6 at Missouri Saturday afternoon at Taylor Stadium.
The Tigers jumped out to a 3-0 lead through five innings, but Missouri scored six runs in the sixth and seventh frames before holding on to the win.
"We definitely wanted to win the ballgame so it does sting a little bit. There's no doubt about that," head coach Butch Thompson said. "We had kind of talked about the tempo and being able to get out of innings, and we just couldn't crab the tempo once we got in the bullpen."
Trialing 7-4 in the top of the eighth, Auburn (25-26, 10-20 SEC) scored a pair of unearned runs to cut the deficit to one. Rankin Woley represented the tying run in the ninth and reached on a two-out single, and Brody Moore lined a hard hit ball towards the right field line, but the Missouri outfielder made the catch to end the game.
Trace Bright got the Tigers started on the mound, pitching 3.1 scoreless innings before giving way to Blake Burkhalter.
Auburn starting pitchers combined to throw 18.0 innings and didn't allow an earned run this weekend. They allowed 10 hits with one walk and 16 strikeouts in the series.
Eight of Auburn's nine starters recorded hits in the game, and four Tigers in Rankin Woley, Brody Moore, Cam Hill and Nate LaRue turned in two hits apiece.
Tyler Miller and Hill both hit one-out doubles in the first and second innings, respectively, but were stranded in scoring position.
Missouri put a pair aboard on back-to-back, two-out singles in the third, but Auburn escaped the inning unscathed as Woley made a diving play on the third base line and stepped on the bag. Woley recorded all three outs in the frame.
Auburn managed three hits in the first four innings but got to Missouri starter Zach Hise with three runs on four hits in the fifth. Bryson Ware started the inning with a double to left and moved to third on Judd Ward's sacrifice bunt before scoring on LaRue's RBI single. LaRue advanced to third on Ryan Bliss' single through the right side and scored on Miller's sacrifice fly to left to double the lead. Woley then battled with two out and two strikes, sending a base hit the other way to score Bliss from second.
Missouri tied the game with three runs in the sixth. Ware helped the Tigers avoid further damage as he made a leaping catch in right field and brought the potential three-run, go-ahead home run back. However, Missouri eventually tied the game on a pair of RBI singles later in the frame.
Auburn immediately responded as LaRue started the seventh with a double down the left field line. LaRue moved to third on a groundout and scored with some heads-up baserunning on a sacrifice fly to shallow left. LaRue collected his second multi-hit game of the season and his career.
Missouri scored four more in the bottom of the seventh to take the lead for good. The first four Tigers reached on two hits and two walks and all four came in to score to take a 7-4 advantage.
Auburn cut the deficit to one as Ward dropped down a bunt with two on and two out, and both runners scored as the throw to first got away. Ward represented the tying run and reached third on the play but was left there.
The tying run reached again with two outs in the ninth, but the Missouri right fielder made the aforementioned running catch to rob Moore of his potential third hit and game-tying RBI.
Auburn will head to Hoover, Alabama, for the SEC Tournament and will take on fifth-seeded Ole Miss Tuesday night.
Auburn falls in regular season finale at Missouri
