AUSTIN, Texas (EETV) – Auburn baseball finished a three-game set against the top-ranked Texas Longhorns on Saturday, falling 14-2 in seven innings and suffering a sweep.
Auburn jumped out to an early lead over the Longhorns in the first inning thanks to Ike Irish. The junior blasted a homer to right field off of Texas’s Ruger Riojas to give the Tigers an early 1-0 lead. However, Texas did not take the early run lying down.
The Longhorns answered in the bottom of the inning, delivering five runs off freshman righty Andreas Alvarez. Rylan Galvan and Jalin Flores got the party started with back-to-back hits for Texas, with Galvan scoring after the next batter, sophomore Will Gasparino, reached on an Auburn error.
It only got worse for the Tigers from there, as Kimble Schussler and Adrian Rodriguez delivered consecutive home runs, both to center field, to extend the Texas lead to 5-1. Alvarez would end the inning with no further damage allowed, but his day would end after just one inning in which he allowed five hits, five runs and four earned runs.
The Longhorns would keep adding runs in the second inning, this time off sophomore righty Ryan Hetzler. Jalin Flores and Will Gasparino delivered back-to-back two-out hits for Texas. Kimble Schussler then doubled, scoring both runners and extending the Longhorn lead to 7-1.
However, Hetzler managed to settle down, pitching a scoreless third and fourth inning before being pulled in the fifth inning with one out after allowing a hit, a walk, and a hit by pitch. Parker Carlson would relieve Hetzler, striking out the first batter he faced. However, Carlson then allowed a single by Rylan Galvan that scored two more runs, giving Texas a 9-1 lead.
The sixth inning would pass scoreless, but in the seventh the Tigers managed to scrape across another run. Bub Terrell led off the inning with a double, and would advance to third after a Chase Fralick flyout. Terrell then scored from third on a wild pitch by Texas pitcher Aiden Moffett to make it 9-2 Longhorns.
In the bottom half of the seventh, Texas would once again answer an Auburn run with a five on the scoreboard. Casey Borba slapped a two-run homer to left field to make it 11-2 Longhorns. Five batters later, Kimble Schussler smoked a three-run home run to left center field off Auburn’s Jett Johnston, giving Schussler his eighth RBI of the day and ending the game via mercy rule 14-2 in seven innings.
Andreas Alvarez took the loss for Auburn, dropping the freshman to 1-1 this season. Jason Flores took the win for Texas, pitching 3.2 innings while allowing just two hits and one earned run. Flores improved to 4-1 on the season.
The loss was Auburn’s third consecutive, falling victim to a series sweep for the second time in SEC play and the first since the Tigers’ trip to Athens to take on Georgia. Auburn now sits at 27-13 and 9-9 in SEC play, falling to ninth in the conference. However, the Tigers should maintain near a top ten ranking since Texas is the No. 1 team in the country.
Next up for the Tigers is a midweek showdown in Plainsman Park vs Georgia Tech before hosting Mississippi State this weekend at home.
