Auburn’s bullpen couldn’t quite hold up Saturday.
The Tigers gave up three runs in the sixth inning and four more in the seventh as Missouri rallied for a 7-6 win at Taylor Stadium.
Auburn, which won the first two games of the series, finishes the regular season 25-26 overall and 10-20 in the SEC, and will enter Tuesday’s SEC Tournament as the 12th seed.
“We wanted to get some bullpen pieces that hadn’t been out there in a while. Definitely wanted to win the ballgame so it does sting a little bit. There’s no doubt about that,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson told the Auburn Network.
“Our execution and our tempo again from our relief corps was not enough for us today.”
Auburn took a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning but Missouri tied it up in the sixth as Peyton Glavine allowed three runs without recording an out. It could have been even more but Bryson Ware took away a 3-run home run on a leaping catch at the wall in right field.
Auburn took a 4-3 lead in the seventh as Nate LaRue scored from third on a shallow pop up to the shortstop in left field by Tyler Miller.
But Mizzou answered with four runs in seventh as Mason Barnett loaded the bases with no outs and then Will Morrison allowed all three runners to score and gave up an additional run on a walk, single and two groundouts.
AU cut the lead to 7-6 with two unearned runs in the eighth.
Barnett (2-4) took the loss allowing three runs on two hits and a walk.
AU’s pitching was sharp through the first 5.0 innings as starter Trace Bright scattered five hits in 3.1 shutout innings with two strikeouts, and Blake Burkhalter held Missouri to one hit in 1.2 innings with four strikeouts and no walks.
AU scored its three in the fifth on an RBI single by LaRue, a Miller sac fly and a Rankin Wiley two-out, RBI single.
Woley, LaRue, Brody Moore and Cam Hill had two hits apiece. Miller had two RBI.
Auburn will play No. 5 seed Ole Miss Tuesday night in a single elimination game at approximately 8 p.m. CT on SEC Network. The winner will play No. 4 seed Vanderbilt Wednesday night at 8 p.m. in the double elimination portion of the tournament.
