AUBURN — Alabama baseball’s comeback hopes were ended late as Auburn came away with a 17-7 win on Sunday at Plainsman Park. The two teams split the season series at 2-2 with the Crimson Tide moving to 27-21 overall and 6-18 in Southeastern Conference play.
“For the last six SEC games we’ve competed really well and put ourselves in great position to win, and I thought we competed again in today’s game,” said Alabama head coach Brad Bohannon. “The last two innings got away from us with the abnormal amount of soft contact and they got a couple of big hits. A lot of credit to Auburn for getting the big hits late and stretching the game out, but I think 24 of the 27 innings we played this weekend, we competed really well.”
The Crimson Tide and Tigers were knotted at 3-3 after three innings on Sunday. Auburn then scored one in the sixth and four in the seventh to deliver what appeared to be the crushing blow, but Alabama came back with three in the top of the eighth to make it an 8-6 contest headed to the bottom of the eighth. That half inning saw the Tigers score nine runs to put things out of reach. Alabama battled for one in the ninth but would come no closer in the 17-7 series finale.
Sunday’s game saw the two teams combine to use 12 pitchers. Auburn reliever Bailey Horn (2-0) picked up the win with 1.1 scoreless innings in the middle of the contest. The loss went to Alabama reliever Brock Guffey (0-1). The lefty allowed the Tigers’ go-ahead run across his 2.1 frames.
Alabama recorded 14 hits with seven of the nine starters tallying at least one hit. Morgan McCullough led UA in hits with a 4-for-5 day that included a team-leading two runs scored along with a team-high tying two RBI. Right behind him was Brett Auerbach, who went 3-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored. Tyler Gentry and Tyler Ras each registered two hits with Ras adding a run scored.
The Sunday win for Auburn paired with its Friday victory knotted the season series up at 2-2. Alabama won the Capital City Classic along with game two of the weekend.
Next, Alabama travels to Troy for a 6 p.m. Wednesday contest.
