Bryson Ware takes over as Auburn's single-season home run leader with 24th blast of 2023

Heading into the sixth inning of their SEC Tournament matchup with Alabama, Auburn was in desperate need of some offense. That’s where Bryson Ware came in.

At the start of the top of the sixth, Ware came to the plate and pushed a home run right out of Hoover Met. Stadium. Not only did it cut the Tide’s lead from four runs to three but it also put Ware in the record books as the Tiger’s new leader for single-season home runs. That stat comes per Justin Hokanson of Auburn Live.

That's No. 24 for Bryson Ware, and he becomes Auburn's single-season record holder for home runs.

— Justin Hokanson (@_JHokanson) May 25, 2023

With the home run, Ware passed Hunter Morris, who had held that record since 2010. That number for Ware has been built on streaks as this homer also gave him the third streak this season of three games where he has gone the distance.

Butch Thompson needed his team to find some offense and scoring as they headed into the last few innings in Hoover. Now, after the home run from the senior in Ware, the Tigers are back in it as they’ve cut their deficit in half to just two runs at the bottom of the sixth.

Thompson addresses what Tigers must to do to attack Alabama’s pitching

Butch Thompson’s Auburn Tigers have dug themselves a significant hole this afternoon against Alabama. At the bottom of the fifth inning, they find themselves down 5-1 to their rival in the Crimson Tide.

Still, Thompson believes in his team and their ability to still get the job done. In an interview on the SEC Network’s broadcast, he felt alright with where the Tigers were at. That’s because he noticed some positives with a few changes that they had made.

“I think we’re in a good place. (A) tough game. I’m not sure that we’ve handled the baseball,” Thompson said. “I’d really like to have gotten out of that inning. I thought we were getting the contact we wanted once we made the change with (Tanner) Bauman there.”

In order to come back, though, Auburn will have to have some of those trends actually turn into runs on the board. In Thompson’s eyes, that means getting better at-bats at the plate from his group because, at the moment, they’re in desperate need of some offense down in Hoover.

“(We need) better at-bats against (Garrett) McMillan. (He’s) got four pitches going and it looks like we’re in between pitches at some point in time. Whether it’s getting through the third time in the lineup,” said Thompson. “We have to have some adjustments offensively. If you look at the score now, we absolutely have to create some offense to get back in the game.”