COLUMBIA, Mo. – Auburn used a pair of three-run rallies to build an eight-run cushion, then withstood a late charge by University of Missouri baseball to claim a 9-7 victory and a Southeastern Conference series win over the Tigers Sunday afternoon at Taylor Stadium.
Mizzou scored five times in the eighth to slice a 9-1 deficit to three runs, then inched closer on a Trevor Austin homer with two out in the ninth. In his final home contest in a Mizzou uniform, Austin turned in a career-best four-hit performance, including his 27th career home run that pulled the Tigers (22-30, 8-19 SEC) to within two runs.
But AU reliever Hayden Murphy closed out the victory — and AU’s first conference series win of the season — by inducing the game-ending grounder off the bat of Jedier Hernandez, handing Mizzou its second straight setback.
Austin finished 4-for-4 with three runs scored and his 11th home run of the season, while Matt Garcia added three hits for the Tigers. Ryan Magdic (1-3) logged a career-long 6.0 innings on the mound for Mizzou, retiring 11 straight AU hitters to finish his afternoon.
But Auburn (25-25, 6-21 SEC) used the combination of clutch hitting and solid defense to notch its sixth conference win of the season. Christian Herberholz (2-2) limited Mizzou to four hits over 5.0 scoreless innings to allow AU time to build a four-run lead, and the AU defense turned three double plays on the day to offset a 13-hit attack by Mizzou.
After homering a total of seven times in the first two games of the series, Auburn once again used the long ball to establish an early lead in the finale. With one out in the second, Cade Belyeu jumped on an 0-1 pitch from Magdic and hammered a solo shot to right-center for a 1-0 AU advantage.
The visiting Tigers kept the early momentum going in the third, scoring three times on three hits to stretch the margin to four runs. Deric Fabian sparked the rally with a double just beyond the reach of Jackson Lovich in right-center, before moving to third on Chris Stanfield’s soft liner to right that glanced off the tip of Garcia’s glove at second for a base hit. Ike Irish’s ground ball to second brought in Fabian, and Cooper McMurray’s single to right plated the second AU run of the inning. Carter Wright’s sacrifice fly to left scored Eric Guevara from third, making it a 4-0 game.
With Herberholz exiting after five innings, Mizzou put its first run on the scoreboard in the sixth. Austin starred in that rally as well, doubling to start the inning, then coming around on Danny Corona’s one-out double to left-center to pull MU to within 4-1.
But Auburn answered in the top half of the seventh, stretching its advantage to 7-1 on Chris Stanfield’s three-run homer to left. AU added a pair of key insurance runs in the eighth on Fabian’s two-out, two-run single through the right side of the Mizzou infield.
Mizzou responded with its biggest inning of the series, striking for five runs in the home half of the eighth. Following singles from Lovich and Austin to open the inning, Hernandez lined a single up the middle to bring in a run. Kaden Peer followed with a pinch-hit, RBI single, before Juju Stevens base hit to left was misplayed for a two-base error — and two more Mizzou runs. Garcia capped the rally with a run-scoring single to right, chasing home Stevens to cut the margin to 9-6.
Murphy promptly extinguished the rally with a strikeout and the third Auburn double play of the game. The right-hander quickly dispatched the first two Mizzou hitters of the ninth as well, before Austin barreled up a 2-2 pitch and launched a no-doubter over the left-field wall.
TIGER NOTEBOOK
- Despite the setback, Missouri still holds a 14-13 advantage in its series with Auburn
- Mizzou concluded its home slate with a 15-14 record at Taylor Stadium this spring.
- Lovich saw his streak of seven straight games with at least one RBI come to an end.
- With Sunday’s announce crowd of 1,395 spectators, the Tigers established a program single-season record for total attendance, finishing with 39,167 in 28 home dates.
- Additionally, the Tigers’ average home crowd of 1,399 ranks second all-time in program history, trailing only last spring’s average of 1,614.
- Garcia logged his team-leading fifth game with at least three hits and has now recorded a hit in three straight contests.
- Austin recorded his team-leading 15th multi-hit game.
- In 83 career home games at Taylor Stadium, Austin finished with a .362 batting average and 16 home runs.
- Austin’s first four-hit game as a Tiger comes after six three-hit performances, three of which have come this season.
- Austin also reached base safely for the 12th straight game.
- With two runs scored today, Austin also surpassed a personal single-season high with 48 on the season.
- With his RBI double in the sixth, Corona extended his hitting streak to four games.
- Stevens extended his career-best hit streak to four games.
- Brock Daniels singled in the third inning and has reached safely in eight-straight contests.
UP NEXT
Mizzou will open its final SEC series of the regular season Thursday (May 16) evening with a 6 p.m. (CDT) contest against Mississippi State at Dudy Noble Field in Starkville.
