BATON ROUGE, La. – Auburn fell behind in the first inning for the second straight day and couldn't make up the difference in a 9-2 loss to LSU Friday night at Alex Box Stadium.
Trailing 3-0 through six, Auburn (18-9, 4-4 SEC) made things interesting with two runs in the seventh to cut the deficit to one. However, LSU (19-8, 4-4 SEC) answered with five runs in the home half of the frame to extend its lead and ultimately even the series.
"We got the game close, and we got the guy that we wanted in the game," head coach Butch Thompson said. "Last night it worked out, but tonight it got away from us."
Similar to Thursday night, LSU started the scoring with a solo homer in the top of the first. Outside of the home run, Auburn starter Trace Bright (2-2, 2.70) retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced, including seven straight from the end of the first through the third with four straight strikeouts at one point.
Auburn threatened to crack the scoreboard by loading the bases on two singles and a walk in the third, but a flyout to right ended the frame.
After Bright stranded a pair of runners in the fourth, LSU got to him with two runs on three hits to run him from the game and extend its lead to 3-0 in the fifth. Carson Swilling entered in relief with one out in the frame and got a flyout and ground out to strand a pair.
Auburn went down in order in the fourth and fifth before threatening in the sixth. Sonny DiChiara walked and Brody Moore singled to put two on with one out, but LSU went to the bullpen and got a strikeout and running catch on a ball slicing toward the left-field foul pole to end the inning.
The Tigers broke through in the seventh with two runs on a sacrifice fly from Rambusch and two-out, two-strike RBI single from Kason Howell to make it a 3-2 ballgame.
However, LSU answered immediately with five two-out runs on a RBI single, wild pitch, two-RBI double and bloop RBI double to take an 8-2 lead in the bottom of the inning.
The home Tigers added one more run on a wild pitch in the eighth to finish off the scoring in the game.
"We just have to reset and hopefully come out and be more competitive inning-by-inning with our offense," Thompson said.
Blake Rambusch extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a leadoff double and ultimately collected his 15th multi-hit game of the season, including his ninth in the last 11 and 12th in the last 16 contests. His hitting streak is the longest by an Auburn player since 2016.
Bobby Peirce made his first start of the season in right field and went 2-for-3 with a run. Howell also collected a pair of hits.
The series finale between Auburn and LSU is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. CT at Alex Box Stadium.
