ATLANTA – Auburn scored six runs in its last three at-bats to force extra innings but ultimately lost 12-8 on a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning Tuesday at Georgia Tech.
"It's pretty simple. Our guys always fight. We're absolutely going to keep doing that. We've done it time and time again," head coach Butch Thompson said. "We can't do what we want to do until we put our face in the mitt. I don't know any other way to slice it."
Trailing 7-2 going into the seventh inning, Auburn (19-13-1) scored six unanswered runs with one in the seventh, two in the eighth and three in the ninth to take an 8-7 lead. Bryson Ware hit a two-run home run to erase a pair of five-run deficits in the game.
Georgia Tech (20-13) loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth and scored the tying run on a ground ball to short. However, Will Cannon, who entered with the bases-loaded jam, buckled down and minimized the damage with back-to-back strikeouts to send the game to extra innings.
Auburn went down in order in the top of the 10th, and the Yellow Jackets started the bottom of the frame with a double down the first base line before loading the bases on an intentional walk and four-pitch walk. Five-hole hitter Jackson Finley then hit the first pitch he saw from Cannon (2-1) over the wall in right center to end the game.
"We're giving a consistent effort all the way around," Thompson added. "What I'm starting with I'll finish with, I think our fortunes will change once we stick our head in the mitt and start locating some pitches."
Bobby Peirce collected a career high five hits in the game, the most by an Auburn player this season, and finished a homer shy of the cycle. Ware's go-ahead home run in the top of the ninth extended his hit streak to 17 games and is on-base streak to 34 games dating back to last season.
The Tigers wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard as it took only four pitches to push a run across. Cole Foster led off the game with a double on an 0-2 count and scored the next pitch on Peirce's RBI single through the right side. However, Auburn left the bases loaded after an error extended the inning, and the Yellow Jackets answered immediately with a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the frame.
Making his first start since the second weekend of the season, Chase Allsup retired the first two batters he faced in the second with a groundout and strikeout, but Georgia Tech added to its lead with its second two-run homer of the game later in the frame.
The Yellow Jackets added to their lead with a bases-loaded walk and run-scoring double play in the bottom of the fourth to make it a 6-1 ballgame, but Auburn answered in the top of the fifth. Peirce started the frame with a double, his third hit in as many at-bats, and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly from Ware.
Georgia Tech extended its lead back to five with a run on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth, and Auburn answered with a run of its own in the top of the seventh. Peirce hit a one-out triple down the right field line and scored on an infield single from Ike Irish, his third hit of the contest.
Peirce and Irish accounted for seven of Auburn's eight hits in the first seven innings, but Justin Kirby and Kason Howell started the eighth with back-to-back doubles to cut the deficit to three. After Howell moved to third on a fly ball to deep center, Caden Green singled him home to make it a 7-5 game.
Georgia Tech scored six runs in the first four innings, but Auburn hurlers Konner Copeland, Christian Herberholz and John Armstrong held the Yellow Jackets to one run on two hits in the next four frames to allow for the comeback bid.
Peirce started the ninth with an infield single for his fifth hit of the contest and Irish was hit by a pitch to put the tying run aboard with nobody out. The senior outfielder displayed heads-up base running to advance to third on a wild pitch and scored as the throw got away at third base to cut the deficit to one. After working the count full, Ware swung on a 3-2 breaking ball and sent it over the fence in left to score pinch runner Chris Stanfield and give Auburn its first lead.
Georgia Tech tied the game with the aforementioned manufactured run in the ninth inning and won it on the grand slam in the 10th.
Auburn continues its Southeastern Conference slate with a three-game series at Alabama (24-10, 4-8 SEC) Friday through Sunday at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
Auburn comes back to force extras, falls at Georgia Tech
