No. 4 Auburn lost to Texas, 7-6, on March 21 after a late comeback attempt in front of a record crowd of 8,037 at Plainsman Park.
The game was significant as it ended Auburn’s 12-game win streak and featured a strong effort by the team to overcome an early six-run deficit. The Tigers loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth inning but were unable to score the tying or winning runs, ending their rally with a groundout.
Head coach Butch Thompson said, “We have a couple of inside-the-circle benchmarks that they met, so I was pretty positive there at the end of the game with the guys. You have to take the feelings out of it. Spotting those guys six runs is a tall order. We had enough spirit and enough fight to make them open up their bullpen to get into the game. Does that help tomorrow to help win a series or not? That will be decided tomorrow, but there were still some benchmarks that were met.”
Auburn narrowed Texas’s lead with three runs in the seventh inning from Chris Rembert’s solo home run and RBI singles by Bub Terrell and Eric Guevara. In the eighth inning, Chase Fralick added another run with an RBI single off reliever Thomas Burns.
Sophomore reliever Marcel Kulik credited team unity and fan support for their performance: “We’ve worked on the spirit so much, and Coach Thompson has done such a great job with us,” Kulik said. “Obviously, we had a record attendance today. We have all of our fans supporting us. Just all of us coming together and uniting against a team like that is all we need. We have the momentum and have to bring it into tomorrow.” Kulik also praised teammates LJ Cormier and Ryan Hetzler for holding Texas to one run over six innings.
Auburn (19-3, 4-1 SEC) left thirteen runners on base during the game while Texas (19-3, 3-2 SEC) built its lead early through home runs and timely hitting. The teams are scheduled for a rubber match Sunday at Plainsman Park.
