AUBURN | Auburn fought all the way back from a five-run deficit only to have Georgia put the game out of reach with one swing of the bat.
Cam Shepherd drilled a two-out, three-run home run over the right field wall in the eighth inning to break a tie game and lift the 7th-ranked Bulldogs to a 10-8 series-clinching win over the Tigers in game two of a doubleheader Saturday evening at Plainsman Park.
Auburn falls to 30-21 overall and 13-14 in the SEC while Georgia improves to 39-14 and 18-9.
“Our offense was resilient as they could be in the second game to get the tying run to the plate after being down 3-0 and 7-2 and then tying it up 7-7,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “Georgia showed up too much with their offense at the beginning and end of the ballgame. Those bookend 3-run home runs were too much for us to overcome.”
Blake Schilleci (0-2) took the loss. He retired all three batters he faced in the seventh and the first two in the eighth before giving up back-to-back singles and Shepherd’s home run.
Being a batter or two late on pitching moves was the story of the game for Auburn. Ryan Watson retired the first five batter he faced before giving up walks to two of the first three batters in the sixth. Back-to-back singles by Georgia along with an error by right fielder Steven Williams allowed three runs to score.
Elliott Anderson retired nine of the first 10 batter he faced before the Bulldogs scored a run on a single, walk, wild pitch and another single in the fourth.
“We stayed stubborn with Ryan Watson today,” Thompson said. “We were in a rut when we went four games last week and we had 21 pitching moves. Sure, should of took him out, should have kept him. Shoulda, coulda, that’s kind of been the fate that we’ve — you want to burn to death or freeze to death would kind of be my answer.”
Auburn starter Richard Fitts didn’t record an out allowing three runs in the first inning on a three-run home run by Aaron Schunk before turning it over to Anderson.
Thompson was asked why Fitts started over Brooks Fuller, who came on to get the final two outs of the game.
“You’d have to ask (pitching) coach (Steve) Smith,” Thompson said.
Auburn’s comeback started trailing 7-2 in the sixth. Judd Ward and Ryan Bliss led off the inning with singles and Conor Davis walked to load the basses with no outs. After a strikeout, Matt Scheffler doubled to drive home two and Rankin Woley singled up the middle to drive in two more and cut UGA’s lead to 7-6.
Scheffler tied the game 7-7 in the seventh with a two-out single to score Bliss from third. AU added a run in the ninth on a sacrifice fly by Bliss.
Bliss was 3 of 3 with four runs scored and one RBI, Scheffler 2 of 5 with three RBI and Woley 1 of 3 with two RBI.
Georgia won Friday’s game 11-2 before Auburn battled back to win game one of Saturday’s doubleheader 4-3 in the 10th inning.
“I thought our guys battled for 18 innings today,” Thompson said. “We faced what I think is a national seed. Our players really wanted to have success against a great, great ball club this late in the year.”
Auburn hosts North Alabama Tuesday night at 6 p.m. CT. The Tigers close out the regular season with a three-game series at No. 17 LSU beginning Thursday night.
