COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Trailing by eight entering the ninth inning, No. 21 Auburn got the tying run to the on-deck circle but dropped the middle game at No. 4 Texas A&M 12-8 Friday night at Blue Bell Park.
"It's OK to be frustrated," head coach Butch Thompson said. "We think a lot of ourselves. I like this roster and coaching staff. To not be able to perform and keep up with the guys in the league, it's ok to be frustrated. You just can't be sad and have to keep playing."
Ike Irish hit a grand slam to cut the deficit to four in the top of the ninth, and the Tigers proceeded to put a pair aboard on a double from Cooper McMurray and hit-by-pitch of Javon Hernandez, but a strikeout looking ended the game.
Irish and McMurray combined to go 6-for-9 with a pair of homers and seven RBI, including a career-high-matching five from Irish, and Chris Stanfield collected multiple hits for the fourth straight game.
"I just think they kept competing," Thompson said. "Ike Irish, another extended at-bat. He's been doing a lot of that recently. McMurray went back-side double."
Texas A&M (24-3, 5-3 SEC) jumped out to an early lead with a two-run homer in the first inning for the second straight day, but Auburn (16-10, 1-7 SEC) responded as McMurray launched the first pitch he saw in the top of the second 436 feet to left center. The home run was McMurray's team-best 11th of the season, including his fourth in SEC play.
After allowing the first three batters he faced in the game to reach, Chase Allsup retired nine straight Aggies, including striking out the side in the second inning.
After a single and double started the bottom of the fourth, Texas A&M added a run on a one-out sacrifice fly and extended its advantage with a two-out, two-run homer in the fifth.
Tailing 5-1, Auburn got right back in the game with three runs on four hits in the sixth. Irish extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a RBI double down the right field line, and McMurray hit a comebacker off the Texas A&M pitcher to drive in a run and score another on a throwing error. However, the Aggies went to the bullpen and stranded the pair of Auburn runners with three straight strikeouts.
Texas A&M answered by sending 10 batters to the plate and scoring five runs in the home half. The Aggies started the bottom of the next inning with an Auburn error and walk and immediately got all three runs right back on a three-run homer. A double and a pair of RBI singles later in the frame extended Texas A&M's lead to 10-4.
The Aggies scored for the fourth and fifth straight innings with solo homers to leadoff the seventh and eighth frames.
Irish's grand slam on the 10th pitch of his at-bat made it a 12-8 game in the ninth. McMurray doubled for his third hit of the game, and Hernandez reached on a hit-by-pitch with two outs, but it was too little, too late for the Tigers.
The Tigers threw five pitchers in the contest, including the Southeastern Conference debuts for Alex Petrovic and Ben Schorr.
The series finale between Auburn and Texas A&M is scheduled for Saturday at 7 p.m. CT on SEC Network.
No. 21 Tigers come up short at No. 4 Texas A&M
