AUBURN, Ala. – No. 25 Auburn fell to No. 12 Vanderbilt, 19-4, to even the series at one game apiece Saturday at Plainsman Park.
"The score doesn't matter. You have to keep trying to get some guys in there," head coach Butch Thompson said. "It just got tough.
"We trust our club enough to put this game behind us," Thompson added. "I see this series as 1-1, and we're trying to fight to win a series. Game three is all about the fight."
Saturday's game was played in front of a capacity crowd of 4,096, marking the third sellout of the season.
Auburn (21-10, 6-5 SEC) wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard as three-hole hitter Sonny DiChiara hit a solo homer in the bottom of the first. The long ball was DiChiara's team-best ninth of the season and 50th of his career, the third most among NCAA Division I active players.
The Tigers threatened to double the lead in the third, but Vanderbilt left fielder Javier Vaz made a leaping catch against the wall to end the inning and rob Brooks Carlson of a RBI double.
Auburn starter Trace Bright (2-3, 3.83) had faced two over the minimum through three, but Vanderbilt got to the right-hander in the fourth. The Commodores (22-8, 5-6 SEC) tied the game with a solo-run homer to lead off the frame, took the lead on a three-run homer three batters later, and ultimately scored nine runs on eight hits to take a 9-1 lead.
The Tigers chipped away with a two-run homer from Nate LaRue in the home half of the frame, marking LaRue's second of the season.
Chase Isbell entered in relief to start the fifth and retired the first two batters he faced before Vanderbilt got a run back on back-to-back doubles, making it a 10-3 game.
The Commodores added two runs in the sixth and another in the seventh to extend the lead to 13-3.
Auburn scored an unearned run on a wild pitch in the eighth, and Vanderbilt capped off the scoring with a pair of three-run homers in the ninth.
Seven Tigers recorded a hit in the contest. Rambusch led the way with his 16th multi-hit game of the season and LaRue drove in multiple runs for the third time this year.
The rubber game between the Tigers and Commodores is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. CT.