Auburn baseball completes comeback to hand Tennessee Tech first loss
MADISON, Ala. – Auburn scored four unanswered runs in the late stages to defeat Tennessee Tech, 4-3, and hand the Golden Eagles their first loss of the season Wednesday night in front of 6,710 fans at Toyota Field.
After falling behind 3-0 in the top of the fifth, the Tigers chipped away with a run in the fifth, another in the seventh, and two more in the eighth to complete the comeback effort.
“This was our hardest game of the year. There is no question about it,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “This is the toughest lineup we have faced so far.”
Auburn (12-2) cut the deficit to one on Blake Rambusch’s RBI triple in the seventh and loaded the bases on three straight walks to start the eighth. Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week Ryan Dyal drew a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded to tie the game, and Bryson Ware gave Auburn the lead on a sacrifice fly to left field.
After entering the game in the top of the eighth, Blake Burkhalter (2-0, 1.04) went back to the mound in the ninth and struck out Tennessee Tech’s two through four hitters to end the game.
“It was crazy,” Burkhalter said of the finish. “My body is still shaking because I was so excited. I used to be nervous in that situation, but I eat it up now. I look forward to it. That nervousness turns to excitement. I’m ready for it now.”
Tennessee Tech (10-1) threatened to begin the scoring with two runners in scoring position and one out in the top of the fourth inning. However, Auburn starter Mason Barnett got out of the inning with his fourth strikeout of the game. Barnett ultimately pitched 4.2 innings and struck out five.
The Tigers attempted to strike back in the bottom of the frame when Brody Moore stole second base to get into scoring position. Ware hit one deep to right, but it was caught by the Tennessee Tech right fielder running into the wall to end the inning.
“Bryson Ware hits one to the wall and then we get thrown out at home plate. We had a chance to score, and it just wasn’t happening for us,” Thompson said.
Tennessee Tech began the scoring for the game with back-to-back doubles on one out in the top of the fifth inning and added two more on a RBI single and fielding miscue later in the frame.
Auburn immediately cut into its deficit as Jake Wyandt shot a one-out double down the left field line and later scored on a RBI double from Kason Howell in the bottom of the inning.
After John Armstrong recorded the final out of the fifth, Chase Allsup came in to start the sixth inning and struck out three batters in 2.0 scoreless innings.
Auburn continued to claw back in the bottom of the seventh with a single by Cole Foster followed by Rambusch’s RBI triple to make it a 3-2 ballgame. The Tigers nearly tied the game as Howell hit a fly ball to right field, but Rambusch was tagged out at the plate to end the inning.
Junior Nate LaRue entered in relief of Allsup to start the eighth inning recorded a pair of outs before giving way to Burkhalter, who struck out the Tennessee Tech leadoff hitter to get Auburn back to the plate and set the stage for the aforementioned tying and go-ahead runs.
Auburn returns to Plainsman Park to begin a three-game series against Middle Tennessee (4-9) Friday at 6 p.m. CT.
This is a release from Auburn Athletics.