Baseball Sweeps Wright State to Finish the Week Undefeated
Auburn baseball earned five wins over Alabama A&M and Wright State this past week to improve their record to 10-3. The weekend series againnst Wright State featured a combined 14 strikeouts on Friday from Auburn pitchers Tanner Burns, Cody Greenhill, and Carson Skipper.
Saturday was full of offense as the Tigers scored twenty runs with ten of them scored in the bottom of the fourth inning. Saturday was the most runs the Tigers have scored since 2018 against Alabama.
Ryan Bliss led the way going 3 for 5 with two home runs and four RBI's. Jack Owen picked up the win on the mound pitching five innings giving up five runs with six strikeouts.
Auburn Softball Goes 5-1 in the Tiger Invitational
Softball earned five wins this weekend as they played Binghampton, Georgia Southern, and the eighteenth-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Auburn would split the Friday doubleheader dropping their first game to Minnesota and won in extra innings over Georgia Southern. Alyssa Rivera came up clutch as she scored the winning run with an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth.
On Saturday the Tigers knocked off Minnesota 5-1 and then beat Binghampton 10-3. Rivera had another solid day going to 2 for 2 with a double and a two-run home run. Lexie Handley had a career high 13 strikeouts against Binghampton as she picked up the win.
Auburn took Sunday's games against Georgia Southern and Binghampton highlighted by a grand slam from Brittany Maresette against Binghampton as they would win by a final of 10-3. In the final game of the weekend, they would defeat Georgia Southern 6-0 to improve to 13-8 on the season.
Gymnastics Defeats Texas Women's University
Seniors Gracie Day, Emma Slappey, Skylar Shepard, Kendall Moss, and Katie Becker all preformed for the final time in front of the home crowd.
Day had the best preformance of the night as she scored a 9.900 on the floor and a 9.875 on bars. "It is definitely difficult with this being our last time in here because our fans are so good," Day said. "I do not consider them fans, I consider them family so just being able to go out there one last time in front of my family was really special and emotional."
Auburn will go to Durham, New Hampshire to take part in the New Hampshire Quad meet against Rutgers, New Hamshire, and Central Michigan. The meet will take place on Sunday at noon.
Auburn Comes Up Short Against Kentucky in Rupp Arena
Kentucky claimed a share of the SEC title as they defeated Auburn 73-66 in the second matchup of the season. Costly mistakes by Auburn were the difference down the stretch as they missed crucial free throws to get them within a single possesion game.
Bruce Pearl said after the game, “We didn’t shoot as well in the second half as we did in the first half, and Kentucky played really well defensively. You’ve got to make shots and you’ve got to defend without fouling.”
Both teams battled totaling 23 fouls and 55 trips to the free-throw line. Auburn struggled from beyond the arc as they went 9 for 34 in the game. Free throws were the difference as the Tigers shot 13 for 22.
Kentucky's guards Tyrese Maxey and Emmanuel Quickley led the way for the Wildcats with Quickley leading the all scorers with 18 points and Maxey who scored 17.
Auburn's J'von McCormick led the team scoring 13 points in the second half alone. Austin Wiley added another double-double to his career as he scored 10 points with 12 rebounds.
Auburn's record goes to 24-5 (11-5 SEC) and they will play their final home game next Wednesday againnst Texas A&M at 6pm before playing their final regular season game at Tennessee next Saturday. Coverage of Wednesday's game will be aired on ESPN2.
Women's Basketball Loses a Heartbreaker on Senior Day
Women's basketball looked to to finish the week undefeated against after winning on the road at Missouri on Thursday. The Tigers would fall 56-55 to the Tennessee Volunteers in a wild ending.
Auburn let the game slip as Tennessee's Jordan Horstan scored a late bucket to put the Vols up 56-54. Alexander would find her way to the free throw line after getting fouled on an inbounded pass and would make only one of her two free throws.
Coach Flournoy spoke about Alexander's career at Auburn saying, "I wish every player in the country would understand this, Daisa had to wait her turn. She had to sit back. She had to sit the bench. She didn't want to sit the bench. She wanted every opportunity to walk out the door and leave. But she's got great parents, and her parents did not let her. They made her stay here. Told her, 'You keep fighting, you keep working, your chance is coming.' When you see Daisa career, and what she's been able to do here, kudos to her for staying when it was a tough situation to be in, when most people quit."
Auburn will go to the SEC Tournament in Greenville next Wednesday to play Vanderbilt at 10am. The game will be live on SEC Network.
