AUSTIN, Texas – No. 6 Auburn went toe-to-toe with No. 1 Texas but ultimately fell short, dropping the opener 3-2 Thursday night at Disch-Falk Field.
The contest marked Auburn’s fourth straight one-run game and snapped its six-game winning streak.
“I thought the guys handled being on the road against the number one team in the country,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “Having a lead late is really important, and that’s why they’re number one. We’ve been in every ballgame. Every one of these have been tight. The backend of the bullpen for those guys is so good, I think that was the difference tonight.
“Their tying run and go-ahead run were just pitches we’d like to have back,” Thompson added. “Other than that, it was toe-to-toe and a pretty even ballgame. I thought our guys were connected. If they can keep us in every game like that, it’s not who we play it’s how we play. We had every chance to be right there on the road against a really good ballclub. We just came up short with those two pitches we’ll look back on.”
Ike Irish hit a two-run home run to give the Tigers the lead in the third inning, but Texas scored a run in each of the third, sixth and seventh innings to claim the opener. All five combined runs in the game were scored with two outs.
“It just showed that we can play with these guys,” Irish said. “Friday nights are a lot of just feeling it out as two ballclubs. Saturday and Sunday it’s kind of the grittier of the teams that wins. We just have to come out, be hungry, capitalize on mistakes and put people away as a pitching staff.”
After starting pitcher Samuel Dutton faced the minimum in the first two innings thanks in part to a double play, Auburn (27-11, 9-7 SEC) started the scoring with Irish’s two-run homer in the third. Chris Rembert won an eight-pitch at-bat with a two-out, two-strike single to right center to keep the third inning alive, and Irish followed two pitches later with his eighth home run of the season to give Auburn the lead.
Texas (31-5, 14-2 SEC) answered with a two-out single after a wild pitch in the bottom of the inning to cut its deficit to one.
Dutton again faced the minimum in the fourth and fifth innings as Chase Fralick caught a runner stealing on a failed hit-and-run, but the Longhorns tied the game with a two-out double in the sixth.
The Tigers put the potential go-ahead run in scoring position with two singles in the seventh, but a three-pitch strikeout ended the inning with the score remaining 2-2.
Texas took the lead with a solo home run with two strikes and two outs in the bottom of the inning, and Auburn went down in order in the eighth and the ninth innings against Dylan Volantis to end the game.
Game two between Auburn and Texas is scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m. CT.