AUBURN | Auburn couldn’t escape Plainsman Park without a little drama.
Everett Lau’s pinch-hit single brought home Ryan Bliss from third base to give the Tigers an 8-7 walk-off win over North Alabama in the 11th inning of Tuesday night’s final home game of the regular season.
Auburn improves to 31-12 overall while the Lions fall to 16-35.
“We knew we were leaving at 8 in the morning, so we figured we’d add few extra innings,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. “We’ve taken on some water this year, there’s no doubt about it. But I do — I appreciate our guys hanging in there.”
Judd Ward led off the 11th with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch. Ryan Bliss walked on another wild pitch which allowed Ward to advance to third and Bliss to second. Ward tried to break for home as the throw went to second, but got caught in a rundown for the first out of the inning, although Bliss made it to third before he was tagged.
Lau looped the first pitch from Garret Gillum down the left field line to drive in Bliss for the winning run.
“Just go up there and swing and look for something good. And sure enough it was right down the middle, got a nice little cap job and scored,” Lau said. “I think it’s good momentum for everybody going into LSU. We kind of know we need this last series. A walk-off especially kind of builds momentum going into this weekend.”
The win was especially important for the Tigers and their quest for a third-straight NCAA Regional bid. A loss to the 243rd team in the NCAA RPI rankings would have been a blow to those chances.
“I don’t think there’s any question,” said Thompson on the importance of the win. “Like I have been mentioning the last week or so, our players are fully aware of everything going on. Our goal is — I would love for us to continue to keep playing, to get going again.”
The game was tied 5-5 in the eighth before Rankin Woley hit a sacrifice fly to score Will Holland from third and give the Tigers a 6-5 lead heading to the ninth.
North Alabama struck for two quick runs in the ninth on back-to-back doubles, a sacrifice bunt and a two-out single by Ben Kiefer to take a 7-6 lead.
But Holland provided a little two-out drama of his own in the bottom of the ninth when he blooped a single to right field to score pinch-runner Jarrett Eaton from second base to tie the game 7-7 and send it to extra innings.
Kyle Gray (2-3) earned the win holding UNA without a run over the final 2.2 innings. He allowed three hits, struck out three and didn’t issue a walk.
Richard Fitts had the best outing of his career holding UNA to a run on four hits in a career-high 6.1 innings out of the bullpen. He added a career-high eight strikeouts along with just two walks.
“Richard Fitts was huge for us and Kyle Gray, I thought he was throwing hard enough to hold them at bay until we could score there,” Thompson said. “And Everett Lau had sat there for 11 innings and then comes in and he’s ready to hit. He swings 0-0 and gets rewarded.”
Holland was 2 of 4 with two runs scored and two RBI. Steven Williams was 2 of 4 including a 3-run home run in the second to begin Auburn’s comeback from an early 5-0 deficit.
AU starter Brooks Fuller lasted just 1.1 inning allowing four tuns on three hits and three walks.
Auburn finishes the regular season at No. 20 LSU this weekend. The series begins Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. CT on SECN+.