AUBURN, Ala. – Trailing by two going into the bottom of the ninth, Bristol Carter delivered a three-run swing to lead No. 4 Auburn to a 4-3 walk-off win against No. 2 Texas Friday night at Plainsman Park.
With the bases loaded and one out, Carter stepped to the plate for his first appearance after entering the game as a defensive replacement in the top of the ninth. Carter swung on the first pitch he saw and sent a line-drive single to center field for what would have likely tied the game. However, the ball skipped by the glove of the Texas defender and allowed pinch runner Ty Thompson to score from first to end the game.
“I was trying to slow my breathing down,” Carter said. “The big thing was slowing down the game. We practiced ninth inning situations every day in the fall. We just battled. We passed it down to each guy and trusted one another. That’s exactly what we did, just go out there and compete. I was ready, and my name was called. It feels good. I’ve never felt that way in my whole baseball career.”
The win, which was witnessed by a regular season record crowd of 7,247, marked Auburn’s 12th straight and improved the Tigers to 19-2 for the fifth time in program history.
Prior to the wild finish, starting pitching on both sides was the story of the game. For Auburn, Jake Marciano held Texas to one run on two hits with two walks and nine strikeouts in 7.0 innings, marking his fifth start this season of one run or less.
“That was the definitely the game of my life,” Marciano said. “I’ve never had that much fun in my life. I’m really happy to start off the series like that.”
Behind Marciano’s fourth quality start of the season, Auburn has now gone 11 straight games in which the starting pitcher hasn’t allowed more than one earned run.
“The two starting pitchers were as advertised and worth the price of admission. Both guys were amazing,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “It was a great atmosphere tonight all the way around. What a spark (Bristol Carter’s) been. He gets a big hit. This is about as good of a pitching run as we’ve had since I’ve been here, especially with the starters.”
Auburn (19-2, 4-0 SEC) got off to a fast start as Chris Rembert and Chase Fralick collected back-to-back doubles to plate a run eight pitches into the game.
After allowing a leadoff walk to start the game, Marciano retired the next eight batters with four strikeouts the first time through the order.
The sophomore southpaw ultimately retired 10 straight with four consecutive strikeouts in the third and fourth innings, but Texas (18-3, 2-2 SEC) tied the game on a solo home run from Aiden Robbins with one out in the fourth.
Marciano fell behind 3-0 on back-to-back hitters after getting the leadoff batter to start the fifth and allowed a pair of one-out baserunners on a single and walk. However, he buckled down to get out of the inning unscathed with a strikeout and groundout.
Cade Belyeu started the third inning with a bunt single, but the Tigers went down in order against Texas right hander Ruger Riojas the second time through the order.
Bub Terrell put a charge into one off Riojas with two outs in the sixth, but it was hauled in by Robbins at the base of the wall in center field to keep the score tied 1-1.
The Tigers loaded the bases in the seventh on a pair of singles with a walk in between to force Texas to go to the bullpen, and left hander Haiden Leffew got out of the inning with a double play to short.
After Marciano retired eight straight to end his outing, Texas put a leadoff baserunner aboard with a walk in the eighth, but Jett Johnston retired three straight to keep the score tied.
Auburn again threatened with two on and one out in the eighth, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the inning.
Robbins started the ninth inning with a leadoff home run, his second of the game, and the Longhorns added a run on a fielder’s choice later in the inning. However, the home team put its first three batters of the bottom of the ninth inning aboard to ultimately set the stage for Carter. All three runners who scored on the two-RBI single to center that ended the game were freshmen.
Game two between the Tigers and Longhorns is scheduled for Saturday at 6 p.m. CT. The debut of the Plainsman Plaza pregame party will begin at 3 p.m.