It was a performance that would make any pitching coach pull his hair out.

Auburn scored three runs in the fourth to tie Texas A&M 3-3 only to give up a home run and back-to-back walks, both of which scored, to the first three batters in the bottom of the inning to go down 6-3.

It was deja vu in the sixth as AU scored three runs to tie it 6-6 only to give up three in the bottom of the frame on three walks and two hit batters.

The 4th-ranked Aggies wouldn’t give up the lead for a third time, holding on for a 9-7 win over the Tigers Thursday night at Blue Bell Park.

“You go get seven runs on the road — if we could have made a pitch in one of those moments,” AU coach Butch Thompson told the Auburn Network. “This should be enough to win the ballgame. We’ve just go to be able to put a head in the mitt and make them earn it.

“When the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth run touches via a walk or hit-by-pitch, that was the biggest difference to not winning.”

Five of TAMU’s seven free base runners scored as AU walked five batters and hit two more. AU falls to 16-9 overall and 1-6 in the SEC.

The loss goes to Parker Carlson (2-1), who walked the first batter in the sixth before turning it over to Tanner Bauman, who gave up two more on two walks and two hit batters in 0.1 innings.

In a total of 2.0 innings of work, Carlson allowed one run on three hits. Dylan Watts followed Bauman and held TAMU to one hit over the final 2.2 innings with no walks and three strikeouts.

AU starter Conner McBride allowed six runs on six hits and two walks in 4.0 innings. He struck out three on 88 pitches.

It was Mason Maner’s two-out, three-run home run, his sixth of the season, that tied the game 3-3 in the fourth.

Ike Irish finished 3 of 4 with a solo home run, his ninth of the season, in the seventh. Chris Stanfield was 2 of 4 and Carter Wright drove in a run with a groundout in the sixth.

The series continues Friday at 6 p.m. CT on SECN+/ESPN+ and Saturday at 7 p.m. on SEC Network.