Thompson: ‘It’s my responsibility'

AUBURN | It was another capitulation by Auburn’s pitching staff.

After being spotted to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, the Tigers gave up 11 runs over the next two on seven hits including a grand slam and three-run home run by Tennessee’s No. 9 hitter Cal Stark.

The 4th-ranked Volunteers cruised to a 19-5 win in seven innings at Plainsman Park to take the series and drop Auburn to 18-13 overall and 2-10 in the SEC.

The Tigers were run-ruled for a second consecutive game and third time in 12 conference games, and were out-scored 36-16 in the series despite winning game one 9-5.

The Tigers gave up six home runs in the game and 14 in the three-game series, the most in a series since at least 1994, which is as far back as AU’s digital archives reach.

AU's team ERA is up to 9.18 in league games.

“It’s my responsibility to have a non-competitive pitching staff in this amazing league,” said AU coach Butch Thompson. “Last year was kind of a similar script, not that far off, but this one feels sincere. My responsibility. I apologize to our fans, people that love our program, our stakeholders who support our program. I commit to force our guys and our staff to figure out some solutions to get better and meet the expectations.

“We’ve built something amazing together and now these expectations must be lived up to … You’ve got to show me that there’s some solutions or things that we’re digging toward to make things better. And that’s my job. And with six weeks to go, we’ve got a lot of baseball and I think we’ve got a lot of guys, especially on the mound, it looked like a decay and an underachievement. That some guys are more capable than what they put out there this week. We expect them to make some adjustments and get their head back right and do better.”

AU starter Will Cannon (0-1) took the loss after giving up six runs on three hits, two walks and a wild pitch in 1.1 innings.

Cannon needed just eight pitches to retire UT in order in the first before walking the leadoff batter in the second to open the floodgates.

Parker Carlson allowed four runs on three hits, two walks and a wild pitch in 0.2 innings before Cam Tilly came in to get the final three outs of the third.

Joseph Gonzalez gave up five runs on five hits, one walk and one hit batter, Alex Petrovic three runs on four hits and one hit batter in 1.2 innings and Ben Schorr got the final out in the seventh.

Auburn’s first three batters of the game reached on back-to-back singles by Cooper Weiss and Ike Irish, and a three-run home run over the right field wall by Cooper McMurray, his 12th of the season.

AU added a run in the fourth on an RBI-double by Carter Wright and another in the sixth on a solo home run by Gavin Miller, his third of the season.

Auburn hosts Alabama State Tuesday night at 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network before Kentucky visits for a three-game series beginning Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. on ESPNU.