AUBURN, Ala. – After trailing by six runs through three innings and five runs through six, No. 4 Auburn put up a valiant effort to make it a one-run game going into the ninth but ultimately fell to Texas, 7-6, in front of a record crowd of 8,037 Friday night at Plainsman Park.
Down by a run, Auburn loaded the bases with three straight two-out walks in the ninth inning. However, a groundout to third base ended the game and snapped the Tigers’ 12-game win streak.
“We have a couple of inside-the-circle benchmarks that they met, so I was pretty positive there at the end of the game with the guys,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “You have to take the feelings out of it. Spotting those guys six runs is a tall order. We had enough spirit and enough fight to make them open up their bullpen to get into the game. Does that help tomorrow to help win a series or not? That will be decided tomorrow, but there were still some benchmarks that were met.”
Trailing 7-2 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Auburn scored three runs on a solo home run from Chris Rembert and back-to-back RBI singles from Bub Terrell and Eric Guevara to cut the deficit to two.
The next inning, the Tigers added another two-out run on a RBI single from Chase Fralick off a 99 mile-per-hour fastball from reliever Thomas Burns.
Auburn was quickly down to its last out after back-to-back strikeouts started the bottom of the ninth, but three walks from Mason McCraine, Cade Belyeu and Taylor Belza put the winning run in scoring position. However, a hard-hit ground ball to third base left the bases loaded the end the comeback effort.
“We’ve worked on the spirit so much, and Coach Thompson has done such a great job with us,” sophomore reliever Marcel Kulik said. “Obviously, we had a record attendance today. We have all of our fans supporting us. Just all of us coming together and uniting against a team like that is all we need. We have the momentum and have to bring it into tomorrow.”
Kulik, along with LJ Cormier and Ryan Hetzler, held Texas to one run on four hits in the last six innings to allow for the comeback bid. Making his SEC debut, Kulik struck out four batters in 1.2 scoreless innings.
“LJ did a great job coming in and picking up Sanders and holding them,” Kulik added. “He gave me a great chance to hold them as well. Hetzler coming in after me just did a great job throwing strikes, filling up the zone, throwing all of our stuff and doing a great job keeping our offense in the game.”
Auburn (19-3, 4-1 SEC) threatened out of the gate, loading the bases with nobody out on a double from Bristol Carter, walk and hit batter. However, Longhorn starter Luke Harrison struck out back-to-back hitters before getting out of the inning unscathed on a flyout to right.
Texas (19-3, 3-2 SEC) found itself in a similar situation with the bases loaded and one out in the second. Auburn starter Jackson Sanders was a strike away from getting out of the inning, but a two-run single put the visitors on the board.
A solo home run and three-run home runs after back-to-back walks accounted for the Longhorns’ four-run third inning to make it a 6-0 game.
After Auburn chipped away with a pair of RBI groundouts from the McCraine brothers in the fourth, Texas scored its seventh run on a RBI double in the sixth, but the bullpen held them there to give the offense a chance.
The Tigers ultimately left a season-high 13 batters on base, in multiple batter left on base in the last three innings.
The rubber game between the top-five foes is scheduled for Sunday at 2 p.m. CT at Plainsman Park.