No. 4 Auburn came back from a five-run hole to beat No. 13 Coastal Carolina 7-6 in 10 innings on Friday in front of another record-setting crowd at Plainsman Park. Coastal Carolina hit four home runs to extend its winning streak to 22 games.
After a 6-6 tie, Caden Bodine hit his second home run of the game with one out in the top of the 10th inning for Coastal Carolina. The game finished at 1:16 a.m. Saturday.
In the ninth, Auburn had two men on base with no outs. In the tenth, they had the tying run on base with one out, but two diving double plays stopped both threats, giving the Chanticleers the win.
“We went down.” Bolen Pado’s two big hits were the only things that made the difference in the game. The coach of Auburn said, “Those guys are really good.” “I thought our guys were great.” Got it tied again. There was a chance for us to win the game, but we couldn’t make it happen.
In the first game of the series, which had 7,891 fans, Auburn’s Samuel Dutton got the first out with a running catch in left field. Terrell was the first of five batters that Dutton stopped.
When Ike Irish doubled with two outs in the bottom of the first, the Tigers scored. Cooper McMurray then scored on a single through the left side against the shift.
For the second time, the guests tied the game at 1-1 with a home run to left field with two outs in the top of the second.
Bodine’s two-out home run in the top of the third gave Coastal Carolina (52-11) a 2-1 lead.
Pado had hit six home runs so far this season going into the game. In his next at-bat, he hit his second of the night, a three-run blast over the War Eagle Wall that put Coastal Carolina ahead 5-1 in the fourth.
Carson Myers took over for Dutton in the fourth inning with two outs and two on. He let an inherited runner score, giving Coastal a 6-1 lead, but catcher Chase Fralick caught a runner trying to steal home from third.
In the bottom of the fourth, Auburn scored a run when Fralick doubled on the first pitch, moved to third on a fly to right, and scored on Chris Rembert’s sacrifice fly. This cut the Chanticleers’ lead to 6-2.
Myers got Coastal Carolina to strike out all three times in the top of the fifth inning. Irish hit his 19th home run of the season to cut Auburn’s lead to 6-3 in the bottom of the inning.
In the top of the sixth, Myers pitched another one-two-three inning, making it six straight. In the bottom of the inning, Auburn was up to bat, but play was stopped because of lightning.
Auburn scored for the third inning in a row after a nearly two-hour delay. Bristol Carter led off with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch with two outs, and scored when Coastal reliever Dominick Carbone made a throwing error.
Griffin Graves took over for Myers to start the seventh inning. He struck out the first player he faced and then retired the next three batters in a row.
Auburn scored two more runs in the seventh, giving them four runs in a row. With one out, McMurray hit a double. He moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout by Lucas Steele. After that, Eric Snow hit his eighth home run of the season over the War Eagle Wall to tie the game at 6-6.
Graves struck out two more batters in the eighth inning, which ended with no runs scored, and then did it again in the ninth. He finished with five strikeouts and no hits in three scoreless innings, to the cheers of thousands of Auburn fans.
“I knew I could go out there, beat those hitters and have confidence,” Graves said. “I was out there trusting my guys, knew they were going to be behind me no matter what happened. I enjoyed every moment of it.”
Griffin Graves took over for Myers to start the seventh inning. He struck out the first player he faced and then retired the next three batters in a row.
Auburn scored two more runs in the seventh, giving them four runs in a row. With one out, McMurray hit a double. He moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout by Lucas Steele. After that, Eric Snow hit his eighth home run of the season over the War Eagle Wall to tie the game at 6-6.
Graves struck out two more batters in the eighth inning, which ended with no runs scored, and then did it again in the ninth. He finished with five strikeouts and no hits in three scoreless innings, to the cheers of thousands of Auburn fans.
Without doubt, Graves said, “I knew I could go out there and beat those batters.” “I told my guys I trusted them and knew they would be there for me no matter what.” I loved every minute of it.
In the bottom of the ninth, Auburn got the first two batters on base, but a strikeout and a double play stopped the Tigers’ chance for a walk-off win. The game went to extra innings.
Ryan Hetzler (2-1) gave up the game-winning home run to Bodine. He then loaded the bases with a strikeout and a fielder’s choice to get out of the jam.
At the start of the bottom of the 10th, Snow hit a single. Carter’s sacrifice bunt moved Snow to second, but a similar double play ended the game.
The series will be tied at two games apiece on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT when the Tigers play.
Thompson said, “We are sure of ourselves and strong.” “We need to rest, sleep, and come back out here.” Right away, let’s get back out there and do everything we can to win a baseball game and keep the season going.
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