April 5, 2019

By George Nunnelley

Auburn Athletics

Tigers and Razorbacks split marathon doubleheader

AUBURN, Ala. – It took 24 total innings and 8 hours and 40 minutes to decide Friday’s doubleheader that ended in a split between No. 15 Auburn and No. 9 Arkansas.

The Tigers (23-8, 7-4 SEC) scored six unanswered runs to come back from a three-run deficit and win game one, 6-3. Auburn again responded from a three-run deficit in game two, but it was Arkansas (23-8, 7-4) that eventually won a 15-inning, 5-hour-40-minute marathon by a score of 9-6.

“Every guy contributed to try to help us win today,” head coach Butch Thompson said on the Auburn Sports Network. “You’re 90 feet away from a doubleheader sweep against a top-10 team, but it didn’t happen. Our guys competed the entire day. If I could just put one more hit or walk or HBP in there, we could’ve found a way to win. We’re playing a great team that’s going to keep battling just the same.”

GAME ONE

Conor Davis drove in the go-ahead run on a RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning as Auburn scored six unanswered runs after falling in a 3-0 hole through five innings.

Elliott Anderson (5-0, 1.75) picked up his team-best fifth win of the season after retiring all four batters he faced in relief. Cody Greenhill worked a perfect ninth inning with a pair of strikeouts en route to his seventh save of the season, including his fifth in conference play.

Arkansas scratched a run across in the top of the second after a wild pitch moved a pair of runners in scoring position and a sacrifice fly pated the first run of the game.

Tanner Burns struck out six of seven batters faced from the third until the fifth inning, but a one-out double and two-run home run by the next two hitters made it a 3-0 ballgame.

Auburn got on the scoreboard in the sixth inning as Davis hit a RBI single through the left side to score Rankin Woley. Two batters later, Ryan Bliss stepped to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded and flipped a base hit into right field to drive in a pair of runs and tie the game, 3-3. Three-run rally came after the first two batters of the frame struck out.

Edouard Julien (Quebec City, Que.) started the eighth inning with a double, and Davis traded places with him and accounted for the aforementioned go-ahead RBI. Bliss drove in his season-high third run of the game on a single back up the middle before Matt Scheffler made it a 6-3 ballgame with a RBI double to deep left-center field.

Davis went 3-for-4 in the contest and drove in two runs. Bliss’ three RBI marked a season high, while he and Kason Howell collected two hits apiece. Howell’s multi-hit effort was his fourth in the last five games.

Burns allowed three runs on seven hits in 6.0 innings of work. The Decatur, Alabama native struck out 10 batters in the game, marking his third start this season with double-digit strikeouts.

GAME TWO

Tied 4-4 in the bottom of the 10th inning, Auburn appeared to win the game when Scheffler singled through the right side and Steven Williams was called safe on a close play at the plate. However, the call was reviewed and overturned to end the inning and extend the game.

Arkansas took a two-run lead on a home run in the top of the 12th, but the Tigers answered right back as Julien scored on a wild pitch and Bliss drove in his second run of the game and fifth of the day on a game-tying sacrifice fly to right field.

After each team held its counterpart scoreless in the 13th and 14th innings, the Razorbacks reclaimed the lead on a solo home run and extended it with a two-RBI double in the 15th frame.

Carson Skipper (3-2, 7.16) suffered the loss after throwing 3.0 innings of relief. After earning the save in game one, Greenhill turned in 3.0 innings of scoreless relief and struck out four batters. Ryan Watson pitched 2.2 innings earlier in the contests and didn’t allow a run while matching a career-high with four strikeouts in the second straight outing.

Much like game one, Auburn battled back from a 3-0 deficit and tied the game on a two-run home run off the bat of Will Holland in the bottom of the fifth inning. It was Holland’s second home run of the season, both of which have come in his last three games.

Two innings later, Bliss broke a 3-3 tie and put the Tigers ahead with a RBI double down the right-field line, but Arkansas answered with a run as the first three batters in the top of the eighth inning reached.

With the game tied and runners on first and second, Julien ended the top of the eighth with a diving play behind third base and got up to step on the bag. However, the Tigers were left looking for one more run to end the game in walk-off fashion.