Trailing by a run with two outs in the ninth inning, Auburn University’s baseball team secured a 4-3 victory over West Georgia at Plainsman Park on Wednesday night. Ethin Bingaman and Bub Terrell delivered consecutive singles to tie and then win the game in walk-off fashion.
Bingaman, who was recently named SEC Freshman of the Week, hit a single to right field on a 1-0 pitch, allowing pinch runner Ty Thompson to score from second base and even the score. After advancing to second on a wild pitch, Bingaman was brought home by Terrell’s single to left field on a 2-2 fastball.
“Gabe (Gross) called a timeout, and he told me to just slow everything down and put a ball into play,” Terrell said. “We talk about pushing the ball forward and not letting the catcher call the last pitch or leave it up to the umpire, so we just wanted to put the ball into play and hopefully find the grass.”
West Georgia had taken a 3-1 lead in the top of the eighth inning with their second home run of the game. Auburn narrowed that gap after Mason McCraine hit a two-out single off the left-field wall, scoring his brother Brandon McCraine from third base.
Ryan Hetzler entered as pitcher in the ninth inning for Auburn and kept West Georgia from extending their lead by stranding a runner on third with a strikeout.
“This team is learning and growing, but I do not think we have it all figured out,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “We have a long way to go, but I just have to keep them growing and keep building a habit so that a month from now we can make better decisions and better choices. That is what I want our focus to be on. I do like the resilience when it is not going well and we keep pitching and playing defense the way we have. It was a good battle there at the end to pull it out.”
Andreas Alvarez started for Auburn, giving up only one significant blow: a two-out, two-run home run in the third inning by West Georgia. Auburn responded when Bristol Carter reached base after being hit by a pitch; he then stole two bases and scored as an errant throw got past West Georgia’s third baseman.
Alvarez held West Georgia scoreless over his next three innings before handing over pitching duties to Drew Whalen. Whalen ended his outing with 2.1 innings of relief before Hetzler finished out for Auburn.
In defense, Mason McCraine made an important play in the seventh inning by throwing out an advancing runner at home plate after back-to-back singles threatened another West Georgia run.
Offensively for Auburn (now 7-1), Chase Fralick led with three hits while Mason McCraine continued his strong performance with multiple hits for his fourth straight game. Bingaman also had two hits for his second consecutive game.
Auburn will next host Nebraska at Plainsman Park this weekend.
