AUBURN | A shaky bullpen and a lack of clutch hitting doomed Auburn in another tight game.

No. 15 Florida scored two in the ninth to beat the Tigers 4-2 in game one of the series at Plainsman Park.

Auburn falls to 16-19 overall and 2-14 in the SEC, losing its 11th conference game by two runs or less.

“Like so many games we’ve competed in, feeling great about getting to that point, that eighth or ninth inning, I just thought four of their last five hitters were in balance,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “Four of our last five hitters were out of balance.

“At the end of the day, until we change it, I don’t know if we can get different results. We’ve got to figure out a way for our opponents to not be in balance as often at the plate to get swings off.”

Ryan Bliss hit a dramatic two-out, two-run home run in the seventh inning to tie the Gators 2-2. Trace Bright came on to throw a scoreless eighth but Florida jumped on him for two runs in the ninth including an RBI triple with one out to break the tie.

Auburn had a runner in scoring position in five of the first six innings without bringing a run home until Bliss’ blast over the left-centerfield wall. Bliss was thrown out at home in the third and a deep drive to left-center by Steven Williams with a runner on was caught at the wall in the sixth.

The Tigers stranded 10 bass runners and were just 4 of 20 with runners on base and 2 of 13 with runners in scoring position.

“We only got two runs off 11 hits,” Thompson said. “We just didn’t string enough together tonight to score runs. I thought we really had some chances."

Tyler Miller was 3 of 5 at the plate, Bliss 2 of 5 with two RBI, Rankin Woley 2 of 4 and Cam Hill 2 of 4.

Bright (3-4) took the loss allowing two runs on one hit with two strikeouts and two walks in 1.1 innings. Carson Swilling closed out the 9th giving up two hits in 0.2 innings.

Jack Owen had a strong start for Auburn holding the Gators to two runs on seven hits in 7.0 innings. He struck out seven and didn’t issue a walk on 110 pitches. The only damage came on a two-run home run by Jud Fabian in the fourth inning.

“I really believe that was one of the best outings that Jack Owen has had here at Plainsman Park,” Thompson said.

Auburn honored former pitcher and two-time World Series champion Joe Beckwith before the game.

“Thanks to the SEC for allowing us to honor one of our legends today, Joe Beckwith,” Thompson said. “The fans showed up to honor him.”

Weather permitting, the series will continue Saturday at 6 p.m. CT and conclude Sunday 1 p.m. Both games will be on SECN+/ESPN+.