Auburn baseball proved Tuesday night what it has proven all season long… they refuse to quit.
After trailing 7-0 to Georgia Tech heading into their half of the 3rd inning in Tuesday’s contest, the Tigers outscored the Yellow Jackets 12-4 over the ensuing 9.5 innings to walk off with a 12-11 win at Plainsman Park.
The Tigers scored five runs in the bottom of the 6th inning to tie Georgia Tech, 11-11, with the score remaining that way until the bottom of the 12th inning with two down. Auburn’s [autotag]Justin Kirby[/autotag] led off the inning by reaching base on a walk and was sent home by an unlikely hero in [autotag]Brody Wortham[/autotag]. The transfer from West Georgia who pinch hit for [autotag]Josh Hall[/autotag] in the inning earned his “welcome to Auburn” moment by delivering a single to right field to score Kirby from 2nd base to seal the win.
“I took one pitch to kind of just get a feel because I had been over on the sideline for a while, but I was looking for something middle-away and got a fastball on the outer half,” Wortham said of his game-winning hit. “As soon as it hit the bat, I knew it was through and I knew Kirby was scoring, no doubt.”
The walk-off win was Auburn’s second of the season, the first coming against Lipscomb on March 4, which coincidentally was also a 12-11 win by Auburn. The win ahead of a crucial SEC-opening series at Arkansas speaks volumes to the Tigers’ identity.
“It speaks to how resilient our offense is. Honestly, even our pitching staff,” Kirby said of Auburn’s comeback win. “The last four or five innings we got some really big zeros, and that was huge. It just speaks to how resilient this team is. We have a lot of fight, and you can’t really teach that.”
The marathon game ended with 23 total runs, 42 hits, and it took 4 hours and 33 minutes to complete. Seven Tigers recorded multiple hits, and Kirby led the way with four. Kirby also led the team in RBI with three while Josh Hall and Gavin Miller added two to the total.
Auburn will now focus on Fayetteville, Arkansas, where they will travel for their first SEC series of the season. Game one between Auburn and Arkansas is set for 6:30 p.m. CT on Friday at Baum-Walker Stadium.
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