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HOOVER, Ala. – No. 13/27 Auburn overcame a pair of one-run deficits by plating seven unanswered runs to end Missouri’s stay at the Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament with a 10-4 victory over the Tigers Tuesday evening at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
Auburn scored three times in the third to overcome a 1-0 Mizzou lead, then pushed home four more runs in the fourth to seize the upper hand for good.
Chris Stanfield doubled and scored to help fuel the third-inning rally, then singled home the tying run in the fourth. Cole Foster, who led Auburn with three RBIs and three runs scored as part of a 2-for-3 night, delivered the biggest blow, driving a three-run homer out to right to snap a 4-4 tie and hand AU a lead it would not relinquish.
Stanfield helped the Tigers’ (34-19-1) cause with a 2-for-5 night, while Chase Isbell (3-1) worked 2 1/3 shutout innings of relief to earn the victory. Mizzou put runners on base in five of the final six innings, but Isbell and fellow reliever Zach Crotchfelt combined to blank the Tigers on four hits over the last 5.1 frames.
Mizzou (30-24) made AU earn its ninth consecutive victory, as MU jumped on top with a second-inning scoring rally thanks to back-to-back walks to Hank Zeisler and Tre Morris, followed by a Ross Lovich sacrifice fly.
Starting pitcher Javyn Pimental kept the Auburn bats in check through two strong innings, stranding baserunners in each frame with inning-ending strikeouts.
Auburn used Nate LaRue leadoff single to jumpstart its offense in the third, as Stanfield’s two-bagger into the right-field corner put two runners in scoring position with nobody out. A hit batsman and a walk to Bobby Peirce forced home the tying run, before a Cooper McMurray ground out and a Bryson Ware sacrifice fly gave AU a 3-1 advantage.
Mizzou responded to Auburn’s three-run rally with a big inning of its own. The first of Trevor Austin’s two singles started the threat, before a pair of AU errors produced the second MU run of the game. Back-to-back walks, including a nine-pitch at-bat by Cam Chick, forced home the tying run, and a two-out wild pitched brought in another to put the Tigers back on top, 4-3.
But Auburn had an answer in the home half, using a hit batsman and a walk to set up the game’s deciding rally. Stanfield drove in the equalizing run with a base hit, before Foster belted the first pitch he saw from Brock Lucas (3-1) over the right-field bullpen to give AU a 7-4 advantage.
Ware’s 22nd home run of the season—a two-run shot to left-center—capped a three-run eighth for the Tigers, who won their fourth-straight against Mizzou.
TIGER NOTEBOOK
- Missouri suffered its fourth consecutive defeat, matching its longest skid of the season (March 31-April 6)
- The Tigers also dropped to 2-9 all-time in the SEC Tournament and saw their all-time series with Auburn leveled at 11-11
- Zeisler drew his 42nd walk of the season, marking the most by a Tiger since 2019 when Kameron Misner earned 54 free passes
- Austin recorded his 19th multi-hit performance of the season, while Bargo logged his 14th
- Zach Franklin fanned three batters in 1.2 innings of scoreless relief, hiking his career strikeout total to 273
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