LEXINGTON, Ky. – No. 16 Auburn fell behind in the first inning and couldn’t make up the deficit in the 6-0 loss at No. 24 Kentucky Sunday at Kentucky Proud Park.
“You look up after that first inning and that’s not what you want to see on the scoreboard,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “Not just the runs, but five runs on two hits. We just couldn’t shove the ball in the strike zone enough.”
Despite the loss, the Tigers claimed their eighth straight series dating back to the end of 2024 by winning a pair of 8-7 contests Friday at Saturday.
“It feels like our offense has been pretty good and resilient all year long, but two hits and a shutout today, just got nothing going offensively. We just didn’t link it up offensively today to give us a chance to get back in the game.”
Auburn (19-5, 4-2 SEC) threatened to score in the first inning for the third straight day but stranded a pair before Kentucky (15-7, 2-4 SEC) got on the scoreboard with five runs on four walks, a hit batter, two hits and two sacrifice flies in the first inning.
Dylan Watts entered in relief of Christian Chatterton with one out in the first inning and allowed a pair of inherited runners to score but settled the game down by holding Kentucky scoreless in the second thru fourth innings.
The Tigers threatened to cut into the deficit with two on and one out in the top of the fifth, but a pair of groundouts, including one that deflected off the glove of a diving third baseman to the shortstop, ended the inning with the score remaining 5-0.
Watts recorded the first out of the fifth inning before giving way to Carson Myers after a one-out hit batter. The junior righty turned in a season-high 4.0 scoreless innings in relief.
Myers followed Watts with 1.2 scoreless inning in relief, but Kentucky was able to add to its lead with a run on a two-out single off Griffin Graves in the seventh.
Ike Irish recorded his seventh hit of the weekend with a two-out single in the eighth but a strikeout ended the inning to keep Auburn scoreless. Three pinch hitters then went down in order in the ninth to end the game.
Auburn continues its road stretch with a midweek matchup vs. South Alabama (11-11, 1-4 Sun Belt) Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT in Montgomery before heading to Athens, Georgia, for three games next weekend.