AUBURN | Auburn needed one more clutch hit. Brody Wortham delivered.

Pinch-hitting with two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning, the West Georgia transfer drilled a single to right field to score Justin Kirby from second and deliver a 12-11 win over Georgia Tech at Plainsman Park.

“We needed it,” AU coach Butch Thompson told the Auburn Network. “The last couple of innings, we were just waiting for somebody to get a big hit.”

The 18th-ranked Tigers rallied from an early 7-0 deficit to improve to 13-3-1.

“Got a fastball middle away and tried to put an OK swing on it,” Wortham told the Auburn Network. “There’s no give-up on this team. Everyone on this team knows no matter how much we go down, we’ve got what it takes to fight back.”

Kirby, who was 4 of 6 at the plate, started the 12th with a walk, and stole second to set up Wortham’s game-winner. Kirby drove in three runs including his seventh home run of the season in the fifth.

Tech opened up an 7-0 lead before Auburn answered with four runs with two outs in the third inning on an RBI single by Kirby, 2-RBI double by Gavin Miller and RBI single by Caden Green.

The Yellow Jackets added three more in the fourth to go up 10-4 before Kirby blasted a 2-run home run on the fifth to cut the lead to 10-6.

Tech added a run in the sixth before AU struck for five in the bottom of the inning to tie the game, 11-11. Mike Bello had an RBI groundout, Ike Irish an RBI double, Bryson Ware RBI single and Josh Hall a two-out, two-RBI single.

Hall was 3 of 5 with two RBI, Miller 2 of 5 with two RBI, Bello 2 of 4 with one RBI, Irish 2 of 6 with one RBI and Ware 2 of 7 with one RBI. Kason Howell added two hits.

After four AU pitchers combined to allow 10 runs on 14 hits, Trevor Horne settled things down holding Tech to a run in 1.2 innings.

Will Cannon was outstanding throwing 2.1 scoreless inning with just one hit before Tanner Bauman threw 2.0 scoreless innings.

Chase Isbell (2-1) earned the win holding Tech to one hit over the final 2.0 innings.

“I think it’s just a win our guys needed with four our five guys out of the lineup. To hang in there against a quality ball club and find a way to win, we’ll take it,” said Thompson.

Auburn opens SEC with a three-game series at Arkansas beginning Friday night at 6:30 p.m. CT on SECN+/ESPN+.