AUBURN, Ala. | Alabama State was one out away from one of the biggest wins in school history until No. 19 Auburn got the bounce they needed to push the game to extra innings before escaping with a 6-5 10-inning win at Plainsman Park on Tuesday night.
Sebastian Colon (Juana Diaz, PR) suffered the loss out of the bullpen working 0.2 innings and allowing one run (unearned) on two hits. Five different Hornets picked up a base hit in the loss.
Auburn (25-12) had a chance to put the game away after three straight walks to start the third inning before
Shadai Colon (Rio Grande, PR) struck out back-to-back hitters and induced an inning-ending pop-up on the infield to keep the Hornets within a run at 1-0.
Corey King (Lithonia, Ga.) followed the next inning with a lead-off single on the infield between the pitcher and third base to break up the no-hit bid of Mason Barnett. After the Hornets tied the game in the fourth, Auburn loaded the bases again in the bottom half of the inning after an infield error and a walk before Colon ended the inning with a strikeout.
The Tigers had another chance in the bottom half of the sixth when they had a runner reach third before Harris ended the inning with a strikeout, and again in the bottom half of the seventh inning when a runner reached third before Harris induced a groundout to second.
Colon faced one batter in the fifth inning, his longest outing of the season in his first start before giving way to
Payton Harris (Hattiesburg, Miss.) with a runner on first. He allowed two runs on two hits with six strikeouts but did give up six walks. His previous career-best was 2.0 innings against Jackson State in relief back on April 3, and prior to that start had only gone 1.2 innings twice on the year. Harris kept Auburn off balance for four innings allowing a pair of runs on three hits with three strikeouts before giving way to
Breon Pooler (Huntsville, Ala.) who pitched the ninth giving up a run with a pair of strikeouts.
How It Happened
- B1 | Auburn jumped on the board first following Kason Howell being hit by a pitch, coming around to score on a Sonny DiChiara double to right center (1-0, Auburn).
- T4 | King led off the inning with an infield single, followed by a single off the bat of Dilan Espinal (Canovanas, PR) to put runners at the corners with no one out in the inning before King would score on a double play (1-1).
- B5 | After a leadoff single by Brooks Carlson forced a pitching change, Bobby Peirce tripled home a run to give Auburn the lead. Blake Rambusch added to the lead with a two-run single through the left side with two outs and the bases loaded (4-1, Auburn).
- T6 | Hunter May (Slidell, La.) drew a bases loaded walk with one out in the inning to push home King who reached on a fielding error by Auburn reliever Jordan Armstrong to trim the deficit in half, before Christian Lopez (San Diego, Calif.) drew the fourth straight walk pushing across Espinal and forcing a pitching change. After the change, Trenton Jamison (Atlanta, Ga.) drew a four-pitch walk (the fifth straight) to bring home Cristopher DeGuzman (Fajardo, PR) to tie the game before Jabronski Williams (Troy, Ala.) drew the sixth walk of the inning to take the lead (5-4, Alabama State).
- B9 | Auburn loaded the bases with two outs in the inning when Rambusch singled off the glove of Pooler allowing a run to score (5-5).
- B10 | Auburn used a base hit and an infield error to get a pair of runners on with just one out in the inning before Nate LaRue punched a ball in shallow left field for the winning run (6-5, Auburn).
Gallery: (4-19-2022) BB at Auburn
Up Next
Alabama State hits the road for a three-game Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) series against defending East Division champion Jackson State beginning Friday night at 6 pm. The teams will play game two on Saturday at 3 pm and game three on Sunday at 1 pm.
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