Auburn baseball drops regional opener to Penn
Samford opened the Auburn Regional on Friday afternoon by stunning Southern Miss, 4-2, to force the Golden Eagles into the losers bracket.
Turns out, that would not be the only upset that the walls of Plainsman Park would see on the day.
The No. 13 overall seed, Auburn, hosted the Ivy League Champion Penn Quakers in the No. 1 vs. No. 4 matchup in primetime on Friday evening only to leave in defeat as they fell to Penn, 6-3 in 11 innings.
After tying the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the 8th inning to ultimately set up extra baseball, the Quakers pieced together three runs in the top of the 11th inning thanks to a pair of fielder’s choices and an RBI double by Ryan Taylor. Penn’s Carson Ozmer faced the minimum in the bottom half of the inning to nail down the win for his team.
“I give all the credit in the world to Penn,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said following the game. “We knew they had a high-level pitching staff. We just didn’t get enough hits. We couldn’t link up enough offensively to keep pace.”
Ozmer got the win for the Quakers by tossing 3.2 innings of relief where he allowed one hit and struck out three batters. His relief outing complimented Ryan Dromboski’s start which lasted 5.1 innings. While on the mound, Dromboski allowed three hits, two earned runs, and four walks while striking out eight batters. Penn pitchers combined to strike out 14 Auburn batters in the game while only allowing four hits.
After three innings of scoreless effort from both squads, Penn grabbed an early lead in the top of the 4th on a double by Wyatt Henseler to give his team the early 1-0 lead. The Tigers responded in the 6th inning by stealing the lead away on a bases-loaded walk to Cooper McMurray and a groundout by Kason Howell that scored Ike Irish from third base to put Auburn ahead, 2-1.
Penn regained the advantage in the top of the 8th inning on a two-run blast by Jackson Appel to move them ahead, 3-2. The lead was shortlived as Brody Moss was walked with the bases loaded to score Josh Hall to ultimately send the game to extra innings.
Auburn will look to rebound on Saturday afternoon as the Tigers will face Southern Miss in an elimination game at Plainsman Park. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT and can be seen on ESPN+.
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