NASHVILLE, Tenn. – No. 12 Auburn jumped out to a lead for the third straight game but ultimately lost the series finale at No. 8 Vanderbilt 9-6 Sunday afternoon at Hawkins Field.
Vanderbilt cut Auburn's lead to one with runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings before taking the lead with four runs on a pair of two-run doubles in the sixth.
"Honestly, I liked the effort so much more today with our guys," head coach Butch Thompson said. "They were engaged and stayed with it the entire ballgame.
"That sixth inning was the ballgame today," Thompson added. "Really in the middle innings is where the absolutely got to us even though we thought we were lined up with where we wanted to be with our pitching staff."
Cooper McMurray and Javon Hernandez each collected three hits, while Carter Wright and Chris Stanfield turned in multi-hit games with two apiece. The quartet accounted for 10 of the team's 12 hits.
Auburn (13-6, 0-3 SEC) scored in the top of the first for the third straight day as Cooper Weiss worked a nine-pitch walk to leadoff the game and ultimately scored on a two-out single from McMurray.
After Joseph Gonzalez worked a scoreless first inning, the Tigers added three runs on four hits in the second. Hernandez doubled down the left field line to score Wright from third, and Weiss hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field to score Stanfield. Ike Irish then delivered a two-out single back up the middle to score Hernandez and extend the lead to 4-0.
Auburn turned a double play to erase a leadoff single in the bottom of the second, but five straight Commodores reached on three hits, an error and a walk to cut the deficit in half.
Vanderbilt (18-3, 3-0 SEC) added a run on a passed ball to make it a one-run game in the fourth, but McMurray started the top of the fifth with a solo homer to center field to get the run right back. The home run was McMurray's team-best eighth of the season, including his third of the week and second of the weekend.
The Commodores again cut Auburn's advantage to one without the ball leaving the infield in the home half of the fifth. Two walks, a bunt single and a hit batter resulted in the run, but Tanner Bauman got out of the inning without further damage on a ground ball to short.
Continuing to apply pressure with multiple baserunners, Vanderbilt took the lead on a two-run double to left center in the sixth and added to its advantage with its second two-run double of the inning three batters later.
After McMurray's leadoff homer in the fifth, Vanderbilt pitching retired 10 straight Auburn hitters before Wright's one-out single in the eighth. Wright eventually came in to score on a two-out single from Stanfield, but the Tigers stranded two runners in scoring position.
Vanderbilt added an insurance run in the eighth inning before Ryan Ginther worked around a two-out walk to finish the game in the ninth.
Auburn wraps up its five-day road trip against South Alabama in Montgomery Tuesday before hosting No. 1 Arkansas at Plainsman Park this weekend.
No. 12 Auburn jumps out early, falls in finale at No. 8 Vanderbilt
