AUBURN, ALABAMA (EETV)- The Auburn Tigers opened up SEC play with a 13-6 loss against the top-ranked Ole Miss Rebels.
Auburn drops to 13-5 on the season with their second loss in a row at home on Thursday. Defensive errors proved to be the issue in Thursday night’s game as they combined for five total.
“I thought that was the difference in the ball game, I really did” Coach Butch Thompson said. "We just have to play cleaner baseball to beat the number one team in America". The Auburn Tigers have accounted for six errors in the last 17 games and were charged with five on Thursday.
Ole Miss earned the first run of the game after a lead-off homer was sent over the right-field wall by Jacob Gonzalez. Mason Barnett, Auburn's starting pitcher, responded with two huge strikeouts to send the game to the bottom of the first.
The Auburn Tigers came out hot in the bottom of the first with a Blake Rambusch single out to left field to advance him to first base. Sonny DiChiara came in with a huge swing and drove the ball deep center field to allow him and Rambusch to score giving Auburn a 2-1 lead.
Ole Miss started the second inning “swinging the bat as advertised” Coach Thompson said, with two singles and three runs. Hayden Leatherwood tallied the first hit that being a deep single out to right field advancing his teammate to second. Third baseman Reagan Burford accounted for the second hit crushing the ball over the left wall to give Ole Miss the 4-2 lead.
Auburn battled back in the bottom of the second with Brody Moore and Ryan Dyal leading the way with back-to-back singles and Jake Wyandt moved both into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Rambsuch ushers them both in with a big double to left-center tying the game 4-4.
Auburn hit a scoring drought through the third, fourth, and fifth inning, while Ole Miss took the lead with scoring runs in the third and fourth innings bringing the score to 7-4.
The Rebels put the game away in the sixth inning scoring a total of six unearned runs on three hits from Reagan Burford, Hayden Leatherwood, and Justin bench.
The Auburn Tigers only scored two more runs to Ole Miss’s six in the sixth inning to bring the final score 13-6
"That sixth inning was the whole ballgame. Those five errors were tough to see unravel right there” Coach Thompson said. Auburn was able to match the Rebels in hits with 14, but struggles on defense were too much to overcome.
Auburn will try to tie the series in round two tomorrow at Plainsmen Park. The game will begin at 6:00 p.m. CT.
