Alabama baseball battles back but drops wild game at Auburn to lose the Iron Bowl series

Alabama baseball lost a second straight game at Auburn 12-11 on Friday to lose the Iron Bowl series after a rally that nearly saw the Tide come back from a 10-run deficit.

After a one-hour rain delay, the No. 24 Crimson Tide (32-21, 12-17 SEC) had another sluggish start offensively. Zane Adams started well on the mound but fell apart in a disastrous fourth inning that saw Auburn (27-25, 8-21 SEC) score six runs.

William Hamiter got the scoring started for Alabama with an RBI double in the first inning to put the Tide up 1-0. Alabama went down in order in the second and left the bases loaded in the third, but Auburn failed to answer the initial run. When Auburn's Cooper Weiss struck out looking on a low breaking pitch by Adams to end the third inning. Auburn coach Butch Thompson was ejected after arguing the call with the first base umpire.

Max Grant doubled Alabama's lead with an RBI groundout in the top of the fourth, but disaster struck for the Tide in the bottom of the inning.

Auburn's Cade Belyeu hit a leadoff triple and scored on an RBI groundout by Caden Green to make it 2-1, then an RBI double by Chris Stanfield scored Green to tie the game. Adams appeared to be struggling as his pitch count crept closer to 90, and Zane Probst replaced him after a four-pitch walk, another double and an intentional walk gave Auburn a 4-2 lead with two runners on base.

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Probst couldn't stop the bleeding, though, as his first pitch was sent into right field. The ball went off the glove of Hamiter, allowing Auburn to score two more before the inning ended. A diving grab by Grant saved another run and ended the inning, but the Tigers held a 6-2 lead.

Alabama could not respond in the fifth, and Probst was replaced by Tyler Fay after walking two batters. With two runners on, Fay only managed to last three batters. A single by Ike Irish loaded the bases, and another by Carter Wright scored two for the Tigers. A three-run homer by Cooper McMurray ended Fay's night, but Coulson Buchanan gave up a solo home run to the second batter he faced to give Auburn a 12-2 lead.

While the Alabama pitchers struggled, Auburn's Chase Allsup put together his best game of the season. He went 6⅔ innings with 111 pitches and had five strikeouts. He nearly ended the game by run rule in the seventh inning, but the Alabama bats finally woke up and sparked a furious comeback.

A two-RBI double by Hamiter with two strikes and two outs saved the day for Alabama and cut Auburn's lead to 12-4. Allsup was replaced by John Armstrong, but he gave up a two-run home run to Kade Snell that made it 12-6. After hitting Mac Guscette with a pitch and walking T.J. McCants, Armstrong was replaced by Parker Carlson, who ended the inning after a Crimson Tide four-spot.

Matthew Heiberger took over on the mound for Alabama in the seventh and put up a fast 1-2-3 inning. In the eighth, Alabama posted another four-spot to make it a 12-10 game. Alabama's big inning was helped by some inconsistencies from the Tigers' bullpen, including three hit-by-pitches, a walk and a wild pitch. Hamiter and Guscette both added RBIs in the inning.

Heiberger and Aiden Moza kept Auburn off the scoreboard in the bottom of the eighth, giving the Alabama offense one last chance to tie or take the lead. Gage Miller hit a leadoff double to get into scoring position, and a hit-by-pitch put Justin Lebron on first after a flyout by Ian Petrutz. Hamiter hit another single to score Miller for his fifth RBI of the game and put Lebron on third, and a wild pitch put Hamiter in scoring position as well. Unfortunately for the Tide, strikeouts by Snell and Guscette gave Auburn the two outs it needed to survive a wild game two.

With the series already out of reach, Alabama will look to steal a win from Auburn in the series finale on Saturday at 5 p.m. CT. A win could be crucial to the Tide's postseason chances. Since 1999, only 18% of SEC teams with 12 conference wins have qualified for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid, compared to 30% that qualified with 13 wins.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama baseball falls at Auburn to lose Iron Bowl series in game two