Auburn Super Regional: Coastal Carolina tames the Tigers in 10 innings
AUBURN — No. 4 national seed Auburn will need to win on Saturday to extend their season after a 7-6 loss in 10 innings to No. 13 national seed Coastal Carolina on Friday night.
Coastal Carolina’s winning streak lives on, now extending to 22 straight. The Chanticleers also improve to 52-4 on the season when leading at any point in the game.
Auburn finished 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
The Tigers had men on first and second with no outs in the ninth, and a man on second with one out in the 10th, and failed to score any runs. Both innings were ended by Coastal Carolina second baseman Blake Barthol, who in mirror-image plays at the end of both the ninth and the 10th, caught a line drive and tossed the ball to second to double-up an Auburn baserunner.
Coastal Carolina’s all-everything catcher Caden Bodine went 3-for-5 with two home runs, three RBI and two runs scored. Right-fielder Blagen Pado also hit two home runs, finishing with four RBI.
The outcome wasn’t decided until well after 1 am CT after a weather delay in the sixth inning lasted nearly two hours. It was another all-time attendance record at Plainsman Park, with 7,891 fans packing the house to witness the Tigers’ first home Super Regional.
The fans standing in the parking deck along the third base side of the park are not even counted in the official attendance records for NCAA Tournament games. If they were, this crowd would have pushed 10,000 fans watching before the delay send quite a few home.
Auburn scored runs in the first, fourth, fifth and sixth innings, while adding two more in the seventh. Coastal Carolina scored one run in the second, one in the third, four in the fourth inning and one in the 10th.
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Player of the game: Griffin Graves
Sam Dutton struggled early, throwing 3.2 innings and allowing six hits and six runs. He was replaced by Carson Myers out of the bullpen in the fourth inning. This game might have been Myers for awhile, but the weather delay forced him out of the game after 2.1 innings of one-hit ball. So, Graves comes in with Auburn trailing 6-3 and was absolutely fantastic. He threw three innings, allowing no hits, no walks, no runs, while striking out five. Tremendous stuff and he gave Auburn a chance. The Tigers mounted their three-run comeback while Graves was on the mound.
Hitters of the game: Ike Irish, Chris Rembert, Cooper McMurray and Eric Snow
Irish finished 2-for-4 with a solo home run and two runs scored. McMurray finished 2-for-4 with one run scored and one RBI. Rembert went 2-for-3 with one RBI. And Snow provided drama with a game-tying seventh-inning solo home run, going 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored.
Pitcher of the game:
Graves. See above.
Next up?
Auburn and Coastal Carolina are still scheduled to play at 2 pm CT on Saturday afternoon. The game is locked into television coverage on ESPN2, and due to possible storms later in the day, will not be moved. It will be a short turnaround for both teams.
A Coastal Carolina win means the Chanticleers are headed to Omaha. An Auburn win means the Supers are extended and a winner-take-all game will take place on Sunday.
“We have confidence and resilience,” Butch Thompson said. “We have to put our head down, get some sleep and get back out here. Quick turnaround, get back out here and do everything we can to try to win a baseball game and extend the season.”
