Moore’s walk-off single lifts Auburn over LSU

AUBURN, Ala. – Brody Moore delivered a walk-off single through the left side of the infield to lead Auburn past LSU, 2-1, in the series finale Saturday afternoon at Plainsman Park.
 
Moore, who was 1-for-3 on the day and 1-for-10 on the weekend, stepped to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded and hit 0-1 pitch past a diving shortstop to score Ryan Bliss from third and send his teammates rushing towards him in shallow right field.
 
"That was a pretty good Mother's Day gift, huh?" Moore said. "The mindset goes from day-to-day, to at-bat-to-at-bat. I hadn't had the best weekend, but you just have to go up to the plate like that never happened. You just have to get back to what you do as an individual player, and if we all do that I think we're in pretty good shape."
 
Richard Fitts started the game for the Tigers (20-23, 6-18 SEC) and turned in his best outing of the season, allowing just one run on one hit in a season-high 6.0 innings.
 
"I've had a rough year, but this outing felt really good," Fitts said. "I've been working all week to try to figure out something, and I made some real breakthroughs that really translated to the game."
 
LSU (29-18, 9-15 SEC) leadoff hitter Tre' Morgan hit a solo home run to right field on the third pitch of the game, but Fitts responded by retiring 13 straight and 18 of the final 20 batters he faced. The junior right-hander issued just a pair of walks and matched a season high with seven strikeouts.
 
Carson Skipper (1-2, 4.79) bounced back from Thursday's outing and earned the win. The junior lefty faced just one batter over the minimum and pitched 2.1 scoreless innings with a season-high four strikeouts to set the table for the bottom of the ninth.
 
Bliss started the frame with an infield single and Tyler Miller dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move the leadoff man into scoring position. Rankin Woley was intentionally walked to set up a potential double play, but Steven Williams reached on catcher's interference to load the bases with one out. LSU reliever Ty Floyd struck out the first batter he faced, but Moore swung on the second pitch he saw and sent it through the infield to end the game.
 
"Our guys just keep competing," head coach Butch Thompson said. "They keep on sticking together and they find themselves in a ballgame. It's been the most unexplainable year I've seen, but they've had resilience, stayed together and keep finding a way.
 
"You just keep competing, because we're always trying to build for something special here," Thompson added.
 
Bliss and Moore turned in two hits apiece, while Auburn's pitched staff held LSU to a season-low two hits all game. The game marked Bliss' fifth straight with two or more hits and his league-best 24th multi-hit game of the season.
 
Opposite Fitts, LSU starter Ma'Khail Hilliard set down the first eight hitters he faced before Judd Ward tied the game on a solo homer in the third. The home run was Ward's fourth of the season and his first since April 3.
 
LSU's outfielders took a trio of hits away from the Tigers in the first four innings with a diving catch in left and a pair of leaping catches against the wall in center and right.
 
The visiting Tigers threatened to break a 1-1 tie with a hit and two walks to load the bases with two outs in the seventh. However, Skipper entered in relief of Carson Swilling and got out of the jam as he snagged a comebacker out of the air to end the threat.
 
Skipper then worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning and struck out the side in the ninth after issuing a leadoff walk.
 
The Tigers managed three hits in the first seven frames but matched that total in the last two at-bats to eventually come through and win the contest, which marked the team's 15th one-run contest of the season.
 
Auburn's schedule continues with a midweek matchup vs. Samford at Hoover Met Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT.