BATON ROUGE, La. – Auburn forced extra innings with a two-run home run in the top of the ninth and ultimately plated the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th in a thrilling 5-4 win at No. 20 LSU Saturday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium.
"That was a program win," head coach Butch Thompson said on the Auburn Sports Network. "These guys, as they move forward, what this win will do today will be remembered here as one that kept this thing going. I'll never let that go away as long as I have a say. I'll always point to today to teach future teams. It was a huge character win."
Trailing 4-2 with one out and a runner on first in the ninth, Matt Scheffler fell in a 0-2 hole before turning around a fastball from LSU closer Zack Hess (3-5, 5.00) and sending it into the bleachers in left field to tie the game.
Two innings later, Ryan Bliss started the frame with a single and stole second to put the go-ahead run in scoring position with Will Holland at the plate. Holland also found himself in a two-strike count and sent a slider from Hess down the left-field line to plate the game-winning run.
"It was a really intense game," Holland said. "We just tried to come out, be loose and have fun. I think this was the best team win all year. We had guys bottom of the order, middle of the order, top of the order get on base, and we had a lot of guys step up.
The win was Auburn's (32-23, 14-16 SEC) fifth extra-inning victory in seven extra-inning contests this season.
"It just shows how much grit we have as a ball club," Holland added. "We're never going to give up even through the adversity here in Baton Rouge -- good atmosphere here. It's tough to play in. We end up getting a win."
Cody Greenhill pitched 5.1 innings in relief and got the first out of the 10th inning before giving way to Ryan Watson (1-1, 5.18), who tossed 1.1 scoreless innings in extras and earned the win. Freshman lefty Brooks Fuller relieved Watson with two outs and a runner on second in the 11th and induced a ground ball to defensive replacement Brody Moore at third base to end the game.
"Hats off to the defense," Watson said. "They just made the plays behind me, fielding all the ground balls and getting all the outs. It's nice knowing you have a good, solid defense behind you when you're on the mound."
With the win, Auburn earned the No. 8 seed at the SEC Tournament in Hoover next week and will take on No. 9 Tennessee in a single-elimination game Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. CT at the Hoover Met.
"It's a tough conference every year," Watson added. "It's the hardest conference in America, and you have to win games to get in the postseason. I feel likes this ranks pretty high up there on wins."
LSU scored on a RBI double in the bottom of the fourth and had two runners in scoring position with one out, but Tanner Burns got a strikeout and Judd Ward made a diving catch in left-center field to minimize the damage.
Auburn answered almost immediately as Rankin Woley hit a one-out single in the fifth and came around to score on the next pitch as Steven Williams ripped a RBI double down the right-field line.
After LSU reclaimed the advantage on a RBI double in the bottom of the fifth, Ryan Bliss tied the score, 2-2, with a solo home run just inside the left-field foul pole in the top of the sixth.
The back-and-forth nature continued as LSU answered when a leadoff walk in the bottom of the sixth came in to score on a RBI single, and the homestanding Tigers extended the advantage with an unearned run in the seventh.
From there, though, Greenhill, Watson and Fuller held LSU scoreless in the final four frames while the offense mounted a comeback.
A quartet of Tigers in Bliss, Conor Davis, Scheffler and Woley turned in two hits apiece and accounted for eight of the team's 10 hits in the contest.