Auburn jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning and looked to be in a solid spot to get the series sweep over Little Rock.

The Trojans had different plans, winning 12-6.

“We really wanted to finish that thing off today and earn a sweep in the series,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “Our guys did, for the most part, a good job to get a series win.”

Noah Dickerson homered for Little Rock in the second and closed the gap.

Steven Williams responded with a homer run of his own in the third for Auburn to extend the lead.

But in the fifth, Little Rock pounced on Trace Bright.

With no outs, Little Rock loaded the bases. Kenny Rodriguez rocked one over the left center wall for a grand slam and the Trojans led 5-4.

Bright exited the game, with Joseph Gonzalez coming in, but the bleeding didn’t stop there. Tyler Williams knocked a double down the left field line and two more runs came through, giving Little Rock a 7-4 lead.

Little Rock tacked on another run in the seventh courtesy a John Michael Russ single and added four more runs in the ninth, making it a nearly-insurmountable 12-4 lead.

Ryan Bliss reached on a single and then Brody Moore hit a two-run shot over the left field wall to narrow the lead, but that was all the Tigers could muster up in the ninth.

After two-straight shutout games and giving up just four hits on Saturday, Auburn’s pitchers all struggled on Saturday.

Bright got tagged for six earned runs in 4.1 innings of work. Cam Hill gave up four runs and only retired one batter. Gonzalez gave up a run and only retired one batter. While Hayden Mullins pitched three innings and gave up one run and Brooks Fuller ended the game retiring the last two batters.

“Trace Bright was great to begin with today,” Thompson said. “He didn’t actually throw a pitch from the stretch until the fifth when he encountered all his problems. I think it started with an HBP and then our pitches just got elevated and wound up eventually being a grand slam with nobody out. We go to the bullpen and we can’t get out of there until they score six runs.”

Auburn is now 10-5 on the season.

“A bitter day,” Thompson said. “It’s a series win but not winning that last game of the series, you feel like you leave something on the table.”

The Tigers will take on Lipscomb on Tuesday before a trip to Oxford to face Ole Miss next weekend.

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