Auburn baseball fell to Penn in ironic fashion, but there's 'no time to be sad'
AUBURN — Sometimes you're on the right side of a well-executed play. Other times you're on the wrong end. Typically, it'll even itself out over time.
The world drew even with Auburn baseball Friday evening in a 6-3 loss to Penn at Plainsman Park.
Coach Butch Thompson's Tigers defeated Oregon State last year at the Corvallis Super Regional to advance to the Men's College World Series for the first time since 2019. The winning run was scored by Bobby Peirce in the sixth inning, as he slid into home after Brody Moore tapped a perfectly-placed bunt down the first-base line.
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The script was flipped on the Tigers this year. Hosting an NCAA Tournament regional for the second consecutive season, Auburn fell to the Quakers after they scored three runs in the top of the 11th inning. Two of those runs were courtesy of a safety squeeze.
"That's how we got to Omaha last year," Thompson recalled postgame. "We absolutely did a safety to advance to the College World Series. You're not in a very good defensive posture there if that bunt is executed, and I thought they executed a couple bunts. We knew exactly that was the play and it was coming. ...
"I thought that's exactly what they should do in that situation. Executed well. And we really had a couple of shots, probably, before that − especially being the home team − to (score) one run. We were not able to do it."
Penn's pitchers were in control for most of the game. Auburn scored three runs, but none crossed the plate because of a hit; the Quakers walked two with the bases loaded and allowed another run to score on a slow dribbler down the third-base line that resulted in a fielder's choice.
The bats need to be better for the Tigers to win four straight games and advance to another super regional. It starts with beating Southern Miss on Saturday (2 p.m. CT, ESPN).
For their sake, the opportunity for a well-executed play will arise and the pendulum will swing back their way.
"No time to be sad about tonight," Kason Howell said when asked what the message will be to his teammates. "It hurts, but it's baseball and we get another chance to go play tomorrow. Coach Thompson always says we can be sad when the season is over.
"Well, the season isn't over."
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn baseball fell to Penn in ironic fashion, but 'season isn't over'
