AUBURN | It turned out to be one of worst 45 minutes of Auburn’s season.
Needing a win over Kentucky or an LSU loss to Vanderbilt to secure the No. 4 seed and first-round bye in the SEC Tournament, the Tigers returned from a 1:40 rain delay to watch a 1-0 lead turn into a 5-1 deficit as the Wildcats scored five runs in the sixth inning on the way to a 6-3 series-clinching win.
At the same time in Nashville, LSU scored 17 runs over the final three innings to beat the Commodores 21-10 and complete a three-game sweep.
Auburn falls to the No. 5 seed and will face No. 12 seed Kentucky Tuesday night at approximately 8 p.m. CT in the first round of the SECT, which is single elimination. The winner will face LSU Wednesday night in the double-elimination portion of the tournament.
“Our approaches offensively, we’re not locked in enough to be able to win a series on the road in the SEC,” AU coach Butch Thompson told the Auburn Network. “The tournament has always been important to us. We’ll have to go try to put our best foot forward to enter that double-elimination portion of the tournament.”
The Tigers, which finished the regular season 37-18 overall and 16-13 in the SEC, are still hoping to host an NCAA Regional and even be a top 8 national seed.
The complete 64-team NCAA field will be announced Monday, May 30 at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN2.
