LEXINGTON, Ky. – No. 18 Auburn dropped the regular season finale at Kentucky 6-3 Saturday afternoon at Kentucky Proud Park.
With Auburn (37-18, 16-13 SEC) leading 1-0 through five innings, the game went into a weather delay that lasted 1:39, and Kentucky (30-24, 12-18 SEC) scored five runs after the game resumed in the sixth inning to lead to the win.
"They came out and were ready to play and were hungry," head coach Butch Thompson said of Kentucky after the weather delay. "They absolutely did more with two outs than we did today. Bobby and Sonny got a good couple of hits, but we need to work on our approach on the road."
With the result and other results around the league on the final day of the regular season, the two teams will turn around to play each other in a single-elimination game Tuesday night in Hoover.
"I could not stress anymore about trying to play a game up there with so many fans there and being so close to Auburn," Thompson said. "We need to put our best foot forward to win the first game and enter the double elimination portion of the tournament next week."
Auburn wasted no time in getting the scoring started as leadoff hitter Blake Rambusch started the game with an infield single, stole second and came in to score on an RBI double from cleanup hitter Brooks Carlson.
The Tigers went down in order in the second through fifth innings, but Joseph Gonzalez held Kentucky scoreless in the first five frames, stranding a pair of runners in the fourth before leaving another on third in the fifth.
However, the game went into the prior to the sixth inning and both starters were burned.
Kentucky was able to take advantage of the delay, going to reliever Tyler Guilfoil at the restart and scoring five runs on four hits and three walks to take the lead in the bottom of the sixth.
Bobby Peirce started the seventh inning with a 455-foot home run to left-center, his seventh of the season, but Kentucky got the run back with two outs in the eighth.
Sonny DiChiara hit a solo homer to start the ninth, his 17th long ball of the year, but it was too little, too late to mount a comeback.
No. 18 Auburn falls in regular-season finale at Kentucky
