AUBURN, Ala. – No. 19 Auburn overcame a three-run deficit by scoring five times in the bottom of the eighth to pull out a 9-7 decision over Missouri to lock up a Southeastern Conference series sweep of the Tigers Saturday afternoon at Plainsman Park.
Moments after Ty Wilmsmeyer’s two-run homer gave Mizzou (30-23, 10-20 SEC) a 7-4 lead in the top of the eighth, Auburn scored on a two-out wild pitch to tie the game, before Ike Ireland’s two-run single gave AU their first lead of the game.
Will Cannon (3-1) finished off the game—Auburn’s eighth consecutive win—with a perfect ninth inning to earn the mound victory.
Irish powered Auburn’s comeback, finishing 3-for-5 with the game’s deciding RBIs. The duo of Irish and Nate LaRue accounted for four of the Tigers’ seven extra-base hits in the contest.
Wilmsmeyer paced Mizzou’s offense with a 2-for-3 afternoon and three RBIs. Matt Garcia and Dalton Bargo added two-hit performances, and Luke Mann reached base safely in three of his five trips to the plate.
After being limited to two runs in Friday’s series-opening doubleheader, Mizzou wasted no time in kicking its offense into gear in the finale. The Tigers scored three times in the opening inning, thanks in large part to Trevor Austin’s two-run homer. Leadoff man Ross Lovich drew a free pass after being hit by a pitch, and Austin laid into Drew Nelson’s 3-2 pitch and lifted a two-run shot to left for a 2-0 Mizzou lead.
Garcia added a clutch two-out single to plate the third run of the first inning, but Wilmsmeyer was thrown out at third before a fourth Tiger run could cross the plate on the play.
Auburn (33-19-1, 17-13 SEC) battled back in the second, using doubles by Irish and LaRue to put its first two runs of the day on the scoreboard.
Mizzou responded in the third, after Mann was hit by a pitch for the second time and moved into scoring position on a Bargo base hit. Wilmsmeyer came through with a run-scoring single to right-center to push the Tiger lead back to two runs.
It would be short-lived, however. AU answered with a third-inning run of its own, scoring on Bryson Ware’s chopper deep in the hole after Bobby Peirce doubled to start the rally.
The two offenses traded runs again in the fourth, with Mizzou using a Mann two-out double to bring in a run, before LaRue went deep to lead off the home half, pulling Auburn to within one run.
From there the Mizzou bullpen kept Auburn at bay, as the trio of Nic Smith, Austin Troesser and Brock Lucas joined forces to hold the Tigers to a single run over 5.0 combined innings.
But Brody Wortham’s pinch-hit single sparked AU’s eighth-inning surge that saw the Tigers touch up Kyle Potthoff and Jacob Hasty (0-1) for five hits. Run-producing hits by Chris Stanfield and Cole Foster brought AU to within a run, and a wild pitch allowed Foster to trot home with the tying run.
Irish then delivered the critical blow, lining Hasty’s full-count offering through the left side of the MU infield to plate the go-ahead runs.
TIGER NOTEBOOK
- Missouri dropped to 11-10 all-time versus Auburn and 7-6 against the Tigers on their home field
- Mizzou completed the season 10-20 in SEC play for the second year in a row
- Both Wilmsmeyer (7) and Austin (8) established new career highs for home runs
- Wilmsmeyer also logged his team-leading 20th multi-hit game of the season
UP NEXT
The Tigers earned the No. 12 seed in next week’s SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala., and will play the final game of the event’s opening day on Tuesday (May 23).
