Tigers derailed by in-state rival

AUBURN | A marathon game finally ended with another tough blow for No. 4 Auburn.

Alabama scored two runs in the top of the 15th inning to beat the Tigers 11-9 and complete a three-game sweep. Auburn left 22 runners on base including 10 in extra innings, and committed three errors that led to two unearned runs.

Auburn, which came into the series tied for first place in the SEC, falls to 32-17 overall and 14-10 in the SEC. Alabama improves to 18-29 and 5-19 after winning its first SEC series of the season.

“I thought both teams kept competing, played their hearts out,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “I’ve never been more proud to be the coach of Auburn baseball and work with these guys. They did everything that I asked them to do as far as coming out and competing until the last pitch.

“What I need from them now is to make sure they keep working hard. They’ve played so well and stayed together so good that they’ve built up for a rainy day and now we’ve cashed that in. Every bit of the series is my responsibility.”

The two teams entered extra innings tied 5-5. Alabama took one-run leads in the 10th and 11th innings and a two-run lead in the 13th only to have Auburn battle back and tie the game.

The Tigers had an opportunity in the bottom of the 15th after a leadoff walk and infield single, but Garrett Suchey, who threw 64 pitches Saturday, came in to retire the final three batters of the game to earn his second save of the series.

Auburn led 4-3 after six before Alabama struck for two runs on what appeared to be a blown call by the umpires. With runners on first and third and one out, a pitch from Andrew Mitchell bounced in the dirt, hit Cobie Vance’s bat, popped into the air and was caught on a diving play by first baseman Dylan Ingram.

Ingram threw it to third to double-up Walker McCleney, who had already run home. After a long meeting in the infield, the umpires ruled that Vance hit a ground ball and called all runners safe. The Tide added a second run in the inning on an error.

The umpires gave the Tigers a run back in the bottom of the inning when Bo Decker was called safe at first base on what appeared to be an inning-ending double play. Josh Anthony was able to score the tying run from third while Alabama first baseman Hunter Alexander had his back turned arguing with the umpire.

Auburn used nine pitchers with Ryan Watson (1-1) taking the loss after allowing two runs in 1.1 innings. Ingram and Jay Estes led Auburn with three hits apiece. Estes and Jeremy Johnson drove in two runs apiece.

Auburn will play its final non-conference game of the regular season at UAB Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. CT. The Tigers return to SEC play with a three-game series at LSU beginning Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. on ESPNU.

GAME NOTES

** The game lasted 6:36. A total of 17 pitchers combined to throw 567 pitches. A total of 44 players combined for 33 hits and 26 walks in 115 official at-bats.

** The Tigers had 17 errors in their first 21 SEC games before committing eight in three games against Alabama.

** Will Holland, who was on an 0-of-21 streak coming into the game, finished 2-of-4 with two runs scored and three walks.

** Jonah Todd extended his hitting streak to 16 games with an infield single in the 15th inning.

** Conor Davis has a hit in each of his last 16 starts.

** A total of 11,723 fans attended the three-game series, which is the fourth-most in Auburn history.