BATON ROUGE, La. – Auburn battled in a tie game for five innings, but LSU ultimately won the middle game 3-2 with a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth Saturday night at Alex Box Stadium.
The loss marked Auburn's eighth loss by two or fewer runs in Southeastern Conference play, including its third in the last four contests.
"We had a chance tonight in this ballgame," head coach Butch Thompson said. "I keep telling them 'Keep pushing through and playing hard.' We've been able to have success before, and we just have to come back out here tomorrow and try not to make excuses. We just have to keep at it."
Tanner Bauman got Auburn started on the mound with 4.1 innings of work, allowing two runs on a pair of solo homers in the third, and Cam Tilly struck out a season-high seven batters in 3.0 scoreless innings in relief.
"Tilly pitched Tuesday but had such a good look pitching behind (Chase) Allsup that you wanted to get him back out there," Thompson said. "Seeing that he had seven strikeouts, that looks like I've seen absolute growth in him."
Auburn (20-22, 2-18 SEC) took advantage of a LSU fielding miscue to start the scoring in the third. Deric Fabian started the inning with a bunt single and advanced to second on an errant throw before moving up and scoring on back-to-back ground balls from Caden Green and Chris Stanfield.
LSU (28-16, 7-13 SEC) answered with back-to-back two-out solo homers in the bottom of the frame, but Auburn got the run right back in the top of the fourth. A leadoff walk and one out hit batter but a pair aboard, and a two-out wild pitch allowed Christian Hall to scamper home from third and tie the game, 2-2.
The homestanding Tigers threatened to reclaim the lead with a pair of runners in scoring position and one out, but a failed squeeze attempt hung the runner from third out to dry and a ground ball to first ended the inning.
Tilly entered to start the sixth and recorded his first seven outs via the strikeout to keep the game tied at two. The freshman right hander's seven strikeouts were the most by an Auburn reliever this season.
Looking for its first hit since the third inning, Auburn put two aboard with one out walks from Cooper McMurray and Christian Hall in the eighth. However, a flyout and groundout on back-to-back pitches ended the inning.
Green hit a two-out single in the ninth and Stanfield lined one to left, but it hung up just enough for the left fielder to make a running catch and end the frame.
Conner McBride entered in relief of Tilly to start the ninth, and the Tigers nearly escaped a two-on, one-out situation with a strikeout of three-hole hitter Tommy White, who homered earlier in the game, but a fly ball over the head of Stanfield in center field scored the runner from third to end the game. All three of LSU's runs in the game scored with two outs.
The series finale between Auburn and LSU is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. CT.
