NASHVILLE, Tenn. – No. 12 Auburn dropped the middle game at No. 8 Vanderbilt 13-5 Saturday afternoon at Hawkins Field.
Tied 3-3 going into the bottom of the fourth inning, Vanderbilt scored eight runs in its next three at-bats to take an 11-3 lead. Six of the eight runs Vanderbilt scored in the fourth through sixth innings came with two outs.
"I just think this is a team that's won 11 or 12 in a row in Vanderbilt," head coach Butch Thompson said. "They're a handful at the plate, and we're doing everything we can. They're absolutely having a little bit tougher at-bats, but at the same time I think our guys are absolutely competing. The difference has been their at-bats are just a tick better up and down the lineup. They linked up with two outs and made us pay."
Auburn (13-5, 0-2 SEC) scored in the top of the first for the second straight day as Bobby Peirce hit a cue shot through the right side to score Cooper Weiss, and Cooper McMurray followed a pitch later with a two-out double to left center to make it 2-0.
Vanderbilt (17-3, 2-0 SEC) answered immediately with a leadoff homer, and the first five Commodores reached on four hits and a walk to ultimately score three runs in the home half of the first.
Auburn starter Carson Myers settled down to work a 1-2-3 second inning and worked around a pair of baserunners in the third before McMurray tied the game with a solo homer to start the fourth. The long ball was McMurray's team-best seventh of the season.
As they did in the first, Vanderbilt answered with a run on four straight one-out baserunners in the bottom of the frame. John Armstrong entered in relief of Myers with one out and allowed an inherited runner to score but buckled down with back-to-back strikeouts to avoid further damage.
The Commodores again loaded the bases in the fifth and this time got four runs home with the big blow coming on a two-out, bases-clearing double to left center. Vanderbilt added three two-out runs in the sixth to extend the lead to 11-3.
Auburn took advantage of a leadoff error in the seventh and scored a pair of runs on a RBI fielder's choice from Ike Irish and two-out single from Peirce.
After Dylan Watts put up a zero in the bottom of the inning, Auburn threatened to draw closer in the eighth but a ground ball to second with two on and one out resulted in an inning-ending double play.
Vanderbilt capped off the scoring with a pair of runs on one out base hits in the eighth.
McMurray and Javon Hernandez led the way with two hits apiece, and McMurray drove in multiple runs for the eighth time this season, including the third time in the last four games.
The series finale between Auburn and Vanderbilt is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. CT.
No. 12 Tigers drop middle game in Music City
