AUBURN, Ala. - Everett Lau's late-inning heroics lifted the Auburn Tigers to an 8-7 victory Tuesday night at Plainsman Park in the last home baseball game of the season against North Alabama.
Lau hit a pinch-hit, walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th inning to end the game.
“It was one of those where you just go up there and hit,” Lau said. “The situation was set up, and I tried to get a good pitch to swing at. It came off the cap, but we’ll take it.”
It was Auburn's (31-21) fourth walk-off win of the season and second of the last three games.
“We’ve been taking on a lot of water, but at the end of the day I love how our guys still represent Auburn and our baseball program,” head coach Butch Thompson said on the Auburn Sports Network. “They hung in there and found a way to win the ballgame.”
Redshirt-junior lefty Kyle Gray guided the Tigers to their win after throwing 2.2 scoreless innings and striking out three batters. Gray hasn’t allowed a run in three outings and 7.0 innings pitched.
Freshman Richard Fitts achieved a season-high of 6.1 innings. Fitts also struck out a season-high eight batters.
“Those two pitchers, they worked around that typical Tuesday start that we’ve had of getting behind,” Thompson said of Gray and Fitts. “They showed resilience to hang in there, and I respect them for that.”
Will Holland hit his seventh home run of the season and his fifth in the last 14 games. Holland's two-out, two-strike pitch into right field sent the game into extra innings.
The Auburn Tigers end their regular season with a three-game series at Louisiana State University from Thursday-Saturday in Baton Rouge.
