Auburn attempting to dig deep, stay alive one more day in Omaha

There isn’t much for Auburn baseball coach Butch Thompson to tell his team at this point.

The Tigers’ backs are squarely against the wall.

14-seed Auburn (42-21) faces 2-seed Stanford (47-17) at 1 p.m. CT on Monday afternoon. The season ends for the loser. For the winner, they live to fight another day. The game will be televised on ESPN.

“I’m thinking about the man, woman and team that refuses to quit is hard to beat,” Thompson said on Sunday. “Staying in the fight is the message that you would hope this club understands. This is one step at a time. It’s less words and more getting ready to practice and play again. The road has been outlined.”

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Trace Bright will get the start for Auburn. Bright is 4-4 on the season with a plus-five ERA. Against Oregon State in the Super Regional, Bright didn’t make it out of the first inning of game one, a game in which Auburn came back to win, 7-5.

The pressure will be on Bright, likely the Auburn bullpen, and Blake Burkhalter, who should see action if the game is close late. The entire Auburn pitching staff is available, minus Joseph Gonzalez. Even Carson Skipper, who threw four innings on Saturday night against Ole Miss, would be available in an emergency situation.

To reach the championship series, Auburn will need to win four games in four days, starting Monday with Stanford.

Since 1981, four teams have lost their CWS opener before rallying to win the national championship. South Carolina did in 2010. Oregon State pulled off the feat twice, in 2006 and again in 2018.

“We talked about what it’s going to take to get back to play for a national championship,” Thompson said. “It’s going to take four games. We want to be the fifth team that’s ever done that in history.”

Auburn is hoping to improve on their 3-11 all-time CWS record, and their 0-4 all-time record against Stanford at the CWS. The 1997 club led by Tim Hudson lost twice to Stanford in Omaha, sandwiching the lone win against Rice. The 1967 team also lost twice to Stanford in Omaha.

RELATED: The aftermath of Auburn’s loss to Ole Miss

Auburn bats have to come alive

There’s no mincing words: the Auburn offense has been really bad over the last three games.

The Tigers have tallied only eight total runs and 12 total hits in the last 27 innings of baseball. Somehow, Auburn found a way to win the Super Regional championship game against Oregon State to advance to Omaha, but another offensive performance like the one against Ole Miss in the CWS opener, and Auburn will more than likely be going home after two games for the second straight CWS appearance.

“We couldn’t do enough offensively to have a chance to be in the ballgame,” Thompson said. “They’ll get to right that ship tomorrow, hopefully, and play good offense. We didn’t beat ourselves necessarily, but we sure didn’t do enough to win a ballgame yesterday.”

Auburn doesn’t have more than five hits in any of the last three games.

Auburn team leaders

Batting Average: SR IF Sonny DiChiara (.389)
Runs: SR IF Sonny DiChiara (58)
2B: SR OF Kason Howell (19)
HR: SR IF Sonny DiChiara (22)
RBI: SR IF Sonny DiChiara (59)
Stolen Bases: R-JR IF Blake Rambusch (16-21)

Stanford team leaders

Batting Average: SR IF Brett Barrera (.353)
Runs: JR OF Brock Jones (77)
2B: JR C Kody Huff (21)
HR: SO IF Carter Graham (22)
RBI: SO IF Carter Graham (79)
Stolen Bases: JR OF Brock Jones (15-20)

CWS results

Here is the updated schedule, TV networks and livestream links for the  games on Sunday and Monday (click or tap on each to be taken to live scoring):

• No. 14 Auburn vs. No. 2 Stanford | Elimination game | 2 p.m. ET Monday | ESPN | 
• Ole Miss vs. Arkansas | 7 p.m. ET Monday | ESPN | 

Sunday results

Oklahoma 6, Notre Dame 2 (Oklahoma one win from a championship series berth; Notre Dame will face Texas A&M in an elimination game on Tuesday)

No. 5 Texas A&M 10, No. 9 Texas 2 (Texas eliminated)

In a Lone Star State battle on Sunday afternoon, the No. 5 Texas A&M Aggies got the best of the No. 9 Texas Longhorns with a 10-2 win. This keeps the Aggies alive in the 2022 Men’s College World Series, while the Longhorns’ season is over. This was the first game in this year’s MCWS that the first team to score didn’t win. Texas picked up a 2-0 lead going into the bottom of the second before the Aggies put up four in that half inning. From there, Texas A&M never gave up the lead. Jordan Thompson filled up the box score on Sunday with two hits, two runs, two RBIs and two walks in the win. The Aggies will face the loser of Sunday night’s game between Notre Dame and Oklahoma.  

Saturday results 

Ole Miss 5, No. 14 Auburn 1 | 

The streak of unseeded teams winning extends to four as Ole Miss came out on top against Auburn Saturday evening. The Rebels wasted no time, scoring two runs in the first inning. Dylan DeLucia pitched 7.2 innings for the Rebels, allowing one run, four hits and striking out 10 batters. Kevin Graham extended the Rebels’ lead to 3-0 when he homered to left field in the third inning, and he finished a triple short of a cycle. The Rebels next face Arkansas on Monday, June 20 at 7 p.m. ET. 

Arkansas 17, No. 2 Stanford 2 | 

The away teams continue to win in Omaha. The Arkansas Razorbacks become the third consecutive road team to win in the first round of the 2022 Men’s College World Series with a 17-2 rout of No. 2 Stanford. Both teams traded runs in the first, but the Hogs began to pull away when they tacked on five in the fifth. Chris Lanzilli was the hero of the fifth with a three-run home run. They continued to pile on in the seventh, eighth and ninth with 11 runs in those three innings. Arkansas pitcher Connor Noland was on fire Saturday afternoon, allowing two runs, six hits and one walk through 7.2 innings. The Razorbacks will face the winner of Saturday night’s matchup between Ole Miss and Auburn. 

Friday results

Notre Dame 7, No. 9 Texas 3 |

The run continues for Notre Dame. The Irish took down No. 9 Texas, 7-3, to cap off the opening day of the 2022 Men’s College World Series. Notre Dame got on the board early in the first thanks to an opposite field home run from Jared Miller. The Irish continued to pile on runs in the third, fourth and fifth inning to pull out to a 6-2 lead by the end of the fifth. A final home run from Carter Putz was icing on the cake in the ninth inning. On the pitching side, Notre Dame’s John Bertrand gave 5.1 quality innings giving up six hits, three runs and one walk to go along with his four strikeouts. The Irish will stay in the winners bracket to face Oklahoma on Sunday. Texas will take on rival Texas A&M in an elimination game on Sunday. 

Oklahoma 13, No. 5 Texas A&M 8 |

Oklahoma opened up the 2022 Men’s College World Series with a bang and a 13-8 win over No. 5 Texas A&M. The Sooners put up eight runs in the first two innings to go up 8-0. The Aggies attempted to mount a comeback, but Oklahoma’s bats kept tacking on more runs as the game went on. Three Sooners put up at least three RBI in the win. Second baseman Jackson Nicklaus led the way with a grand slam. Oklahoma will take on the winner of Notre Dame and No. 9 Texas, while Texas A&M meets the loser of Notre Dame-Texas in an elimination game.