Tigers Take Opener of Friday Twinbill

Friday, April 7

Auburn, Ala.

1:00 PM

Texas A&M

19-12, 4-7

Auburn

19-11-1, 4-7

Texas A&M

Auburn

Photo by: Ethan Mito/Texas A&M Athletics

Apr 07, 2023 | Baseball

Box Score Photo Gallery

AUBURN, Ala. – The Texas A&M Aggies constantly fired back, but could not dig out of an early deficit in a 10-9 loss to Auburn in the first game of a doubleheader on Friday at Plainsman Park.

Auburn (19-11-1, 4-7 SEC) scored five runs with two outs in an inning for the second straight game, this time doing it in the first inning, and the Aggies (19-12, 4-7 SEC) were never able to level up despite getting two homers from Jace LaViolette and another from Brett Minnich.

The Aggies put together one final threat in the ninth, scoring twice, and nearly tying the game on an RBI single by Hunter Haas; however, Kasen Wells was ruled out at home plate on a throw from Tiger left fielder Christian Stanfield to nullify what would be the tying run.

Justin Lamkin fell to 1-4 with the loss after allowing seven runs in 2.0+ innings. He struck out a pair and issued the only walk of the day by Aggie pitching; however, Auburn did damage on their own with six extra-base hits, including a multi-homer game from Cooper McMurray.

John Armstrong got the win in relief of starter Tommy Vail, going to 3.1 innings to move to 6-1 on the year. Parker Carlson earned his first save after getting the final two outs of the game.

The Aggies got 3.0 innings of relief from Ty Sexton before Matt Dillard followed to turn in his best outing in the Maroon & White. The lefty allowed an RBI double on the first pitch he threw after entering in the seventh, but went on to retire each of the final nine Tigers of the game with four strikeouts.

UP NEXT
The Aggies will look to take the series in the finale of the twinbill. The game will air on SEC Network+.

TOP AGGIE PERFORMERS
Brett Minnich – 3-for-4, 1 R, 3 RBI, HR, BB
Jace LaViolette – 2-for-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 5 RBI, BB
Ryan Targac – 1-for-3, 2B, BB, 2 R
Matt Dillard – 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K

GAME SUMMARY
T1| TAMU 3, AUB 0
One-out walks to both Jack Moss and Austin Bost put Auburn starter Tommy Vail in early hot water and Brett Minnich made him pay for the free passes, launching his fourth homer of the year, this one of the three-run variety, out to center field.

B1| AUB 5, TAMU 3
For the second straight game the Tigers were able to put together a two-out, five-run inning. Singles by Bobby Peirce and Bryson Ware got Auburn going and Cooper McMurray answered Minnich's blast with a three-run shot of his own to tie it up. Kason Howell followed that with a sure double and Chris Stanfield and Carter Wright were right behind him with consecutive RBI singles of their own.

B3| AUB 8, TAMU 3
Ware got things going for Auburn in the third with a leadoff double that was followed by a free pass issued to McMurray, the final batter of the day for Justin Lamkin. Two batters later a wild pitch by Aggie reliever Ty Sexton plated the first Tiger run of the inning and Stanfield followed that up with an RBI double into the left-center field gap. A second wild pitch of the inning then proved costly as it advanced Stanfield to third and put him in position to come home on a sacrifice fly by Wright.

T4| AUB 8, TAMU 5
The Aggies got a couple back in a loud way in the fourth with extra-base hits from Ryan Targac and Jace LaViolette greeting Vail in the inning. Targac's extra-base knock split the left-center field gap for a double to open the inning and preluded LaViolette's 111-foot, two-run homer – his second homer of the series – that cut the Tiger lead to three runs. Texas A&M had a chance to add on when a one-out walk to Max Kaufer pushed Vail from the game, but Christian Herberholz was able to coax the third inning-ending double play of the game to nix the threat.

B5| AUB 9, TAMU 5
McMurray's second home run of the game opened up the inning, a solo shot that pushed the lead margin back to four runs for Auburn.

T6| AUB 9, TAMU 7
The top of the sixth mimicked the fourth almost identically with Targac leading of with a free pass from Herberholz. One batter later LaViolette unloaded for the second time in the game, a mammoth blast to right field that trimmed the Tiger lead to two.

B6| AUB 10, TAMU 7
Auburn had an answer in the home half of the sixth to push the lead back to three runs. Caden Green opened the inning with a single to center field off of Sexton and then Cade Foster greeted Aggie reliever Matt Dillard with a run-scoring double on the very first pitch he saw, scoring Green all the way from first.

T9| AUB 10, TAMU 9
The Aggies made it interesting in the ninth and were inches away from tying it up, or going ahead in the game's final inning. Singles by Trevor Werner and Ryan Targac immediately got the tying run to the plate and LaViolette made it 10-8 by beating out a possible double-play grounder and scoring Werner. Consecutive walks to Hank Bard and Kasen Wells then loaded the bases and Hunter Haas delivered, shooting a single into left field. It easily scored Bard, but Stanfield threw a one-hop strike to the plate from left field and Wells was called out at the plate. The play was reviewed and confirmed, bringing up Jack Moss, who walked to load the bases. Austin Bost then worked a 3-1 count and hit a hard liner right at Stanfield for the game's final out.