AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn fell in the middle game of the series against No. 4 Tennessee 12-2 in seven innings Saturday afternoon, setting up a rubber game between the two teams Sunday at Plainsman Park.
For the third straight Southeastern Conference home game, Auburn set a single-game attendance record with 5,566 fans in attendance for the contest.
Tennessee (25-6, 6-5 SEC) jumped out to a lead for the second straight day, this time on a solo homer in the top of the second. Auburn (18-12, 2-9 SEC) nearly escaped the inning without further damage, but a two-out walk to the nine hitter flipped the lineup before leadoff man Christian Moore hit a grand slam to make it 5-0.
"If you want to play that game and flip that lineup and keep getting Moore and Burke to the plate, you can pay for that, and that definitely happened," head coach Butch Thompson said. "The way Beam pitched today, that was more than he needed, so it was a huge moment in the ballgame."
The Volunteers added to their lead on a solo homer, walk and two-run homer in the third followed by a solo homer to start the fourth, making it a 9-0 game.
Another solo homer in the sixth extended the lead to 10, and a two-out, two-run double by Moore in the seventh made it 12-0. Auburn scored a pair of runs on wild pitches after a one-out double and single from Cooper McMurray and Chris Stanfield, but it was too little, too late for the Tigers.
Along with the hits in the seventh from McMurray and Stanfield, Cade Belyeu doubled in the second inning, marking his third game this week with an extra-base hit.
"That's huge. That's what I told the leadership was that this is like a super regional that we'll play tomorrow and the next six weeks," Thompson added. "Tomorrow is a chance to win a super regional because that's a super-regional-type club. That's all we've played this first month. Be engaged, make these adjustments, take what you did these first two days. We have to get our plate back. That needs to be the goal tomorrow to try to win a game."
The series finale between Auburn and Tennessee is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. CT.
Rubber game between Auburn and No. 4 Tennessee set for Sunday
