It took 11 innings, but it all came down to a walk in the Auburn Tigers series-opening 7-6 win over the Georgia Bulldogs.
“I didn’t ask for a lot this week,” head coach [autotag]Butch Thompson[/autotag] said following the game. “I just asked for these guys to kind of connect with one another. I asked the guys what it really means to stay in the fight and to keep punching back. We thought we took more punches than we really delivered last week. That ninth is a good symbol of hanging around and staying in there.”
[autotag]Tommy Vail[/autotag] got the start for Auburn. He pitched five innings, allowing four runs on seven hits, walking two batters and striking out seven. [autotag]Will Cannon[/autotag] ended up with the win, pitching the final three innings. He allowed one run off of one hit, walked two batters and struck out three.
Kolten Smith got the start for Georgia. He tossed 3.1 innings, allowing one run off of two hits. Kyle Greenler ended up with the loss for the Bulldogs in 0.2 innings of work, allowing one run off of two hits and walking two batters, one of them being [autotag]Carter Wright[/autotag] to end the game.
Georgia took a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning. [autotag]Ike Irish[/autotag] got the scoring started for Auburn in the bottom of that inning with a double that scored [autotag]Cole Foster[/autotag]. [autotag]Connor Green[/autotag] tacked on another run for the Tigers in the fifth inning with a solo shot to left field.
Georgia added another run in the top of the sixth inning. [autotag]Bryson Ware[/autotag] hit a solo home run in the bottom of that inning to bring the Tigers within one.
The Bulldogs added on two more runs in the top of the ninth inning to extend their lead to three. Auburn refused to go down quietly, however. Ware doubled down the right-field line to score Foster and [autotag]Kason Howell[/autotag]. [autotag]Justin Kirby[/autotag] reached on an error that allowed Ware to score.
The next run came in the bottom of the 11th inning when Wright was walked, allowing Irish to score.
RELATED: How to watch the Auburn-Georgia series
Auburn will be back in action tomorrow night for the second game of the series. First pitch is set for 6:00 p.m. CT.
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