Auburn baseball battles back to take the series against Texas A&M

Fresh off of a dramatic series win at Texas A&M, Butch Thompson was pleased with the effort he saw from his ballclub as they fought to win two out of three games in what was, by all accounts, a wild series. “We were fully invested in this series, and it was nice to get this one," Thompson said. "We've been preaching to just let the score take care of itself. We knew what the score was, but they just kept playing and kept adding, which was huge."

Auburn baseball was battling from the first pitch on Friday, something that was very much planned. “We talked about how this needed to be a throwdown," Thompson said after the game. "We got back to some clean baseball, and we just fought.” Auburn fought to the end, including scoring two runs in the ninth to force extra innings and another in the 10th to secure the Game 1 victory, 6-5.

Lefthander Hayden Mullins got the start for Auburn, and tuned in an excellent, if abbreviated, outing of three innings of one-run baseball with five strikeouts and no walks. He was forced to leave the game after the 2nd batter of the 4th inning sent a line drive back to the pitcher’s mound, which struck Mullins in the head. He walked off the field under his own power, passed on-site concussion testing, and was evaluated at a local hospital.

Carson Skipper was called on from the dugout to take over the pitching duties and quickly warmed up on the mound. Thanks to a timely double play and a groundout, he escaped the inning with no runs allowed and would ultimately throw three innings, allowing four runs on four hits. He was relieved for the 7th by Jordan Armstrong, who held Texas A&M scoreless for three innings and allowed the offense to regroup and get to work, earning the win in the process. "It was an unbelievable feeling," Armstrong said. "Coming into the game, I knew I just had to go out there and compete and give my team a chance. When we came into the ninth inning, I knew I just had to throw another zero up on the board to give us some momentum," Armstrong added. "I believed in everyone that came up to the plate. I thought that the comeback was going to happen, and it did."

The ninth-inning rally for Auburn, who entered the final inning down by 2, was capped by a bases-clearing double by Auburn DH Brooks Carlson, his 2nd hit of the day. The biggest thing late in the game was just trying to get the at-bat to the next guy, not trying to do too much in a big situation," Carlson said. "We did just that and I am proud to be a part of that. That was a team win. "It's special," Carlson added. "I've always wanted to be a part of something like this. Especially in my last year, it's an absolute blessing to do something like this."

The comeback was not without controversy, though. Infielder Mason Land, pinch-hitting for Bryson Ware, singled to continue the inning but was later ruled out due to an illegal bat. The SEC officials, who inspected and applied verification stickers to all of the team’s bats on Thursday night, examined Land’s bat at the urging of the Texas A&M catcher and ruled that he was the 3rd out of the inning, due to a lack of an inspection sticker. (Auburn would later note that video review showed the sticker was present when Land walked up to bat, but no further resolution or information on this had been announced by press time). In the 10th, Nate LaRue, who started at catcher for all three games of the series), scored on a Blake Rambusch single to right field and closer Blake Burkhalter struck out the side in the 10th to secure the victory.

Game 2 was a mirror opposite of game 1, this time with Auburn scoring early and Texas A&M mounting a comeback. The offense picked up where it left off on Friday night, scoring four runs on six hits in the first two innings. Trace Bright picked up another quality start for Auburn, going five innings with only two runs allowed. But Texas A&M continued to battle, getting the leadoff batter on in each of the fourth through seventh innings and picking up solo runs in three of those four frames. Meanwhile, Auburn’s bats went silent. After jumping on Texas A&M starter Micah Dallas for six hits and four runs early, he sat down twelve Auburn batters in a row from the second through the fifth and Auburn only managed two hits from the third through the ninth inning. Of particular note was Auburn’s aggressiveness at the plate, with six hitters all ending their at-bats within the first two pitches, which allowed Dallas to go seven innings despite taking over 40 pitches to get out of the first two innings. Thompson acknowledged that winning those close games is more about continuing to give consistent effort and getting a lucky break after the game. "The effort and what the guys did to compete and battle was tremendous," head coach Butch Thompson said. "That's what I ask for every day. It was the same last night (Friday). That one break just didn't come out our way."

The rubber match had all the tenor of a heavyweight boxing bout. Auburn threw Tommy Sheehan to start, but he only made it through the first and was lifted early in the second with a pitch count at 38 and having allowed five runs on three hits and four walks. Sheehan kept missing high and glove side, pointing towards an inconsistency with his usual release point. After taking a proverbial punch to the mouth with the early call to the bullpen, Auburn battled back thanks to the arm of Mason Barnett, who gave four innings in relief with two hits and two runs allowed. Every time Texas A&M landed a blow at the plate, Auburn countered in the next half inning to tie it up, finally taking the lead on a Cole Foster two-run home run in the 5th and sealing it with a Nate LaRue 11-pitch ground-rule double in the 7th where he would then come around to score thanks to two wild pitches. Two insurance runs in the 8th, a bases-loaded walk of Mike Bello and a Josh Hall single, provided more than enough cushion for Auburn closer Blake Burkhalter to slam the door shut and seal the series win.

Defensively, catcher/pitcher Nate LaRue got all three starts at catcher in an attempt to control the running game of Texas A&M, which entered this series as one of the more prolific running teams in the SEC. He did his job, throwing out four base stealers on the weekend and allowing only a single stolen base. He capped the series off with a three-hit performance on Sunday, including his first HR of the season and five total RBIs. "I hadn't gotten a barrel all weekend. I went up into it. I just said 'I'm going to swing it and see what happens.' Honestly, I kind of blacked out. He threw me a couple of sliders outside that kind of backed up. He just threw one a little bit too middle for me and I was able to get a good piece of it." Mike Bello also continued to force his way into the lineup, starting all three games in the outfield and going 4-11 with six runs, 2 RBIs, and drawing three walks.

As expected, Auburn continues to be without the services of starting pitcher Joseph Gonzalez. Dealing with a blister under a fingernail on his throwing hand, he has now missed two-weekend series and the length of time he is expected to be out is unknown. Hayden Mullins got the start on Friday and Tommy Sheehan on Sunday, but Jordan Armstrong and Mason Barnett also gave Auburn major innings over the weekend and are in the mix to start next weekend at LSU.

Auburn baseball, now at 17-7 on the season and 3-3 in the SEC, returns home to Plainsman Park for a midweek on Tuesday against Jacksonville State. The matchup, which can be viewed on SEC Network+ beginning at 6 PM, is a stop on the Atlanta Braves “World Champions Trophy Tour”, where the 2021 World Series trophy will be available for photo opportunities and celebrations.

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