BY NOAH GRIFFITH
FOR THE OBSERVER
AUBURN —
After blazing through three games and scoring 51 runs in last year’s Auburn regional, the Auburn University baseball team couldn’t find any juice in their bat in a season-ending regional loss last weekend.
The Tigers joined Oklahoma State as the only top 16 seeds to go two-and-done in this year’s regional round — Auburn’s first time doing so since 2002 in the Tuscaloosa Regional. Instead, the No. 2-seed Southern Miss Golden Eagles will travel to face Tennessee in the super regionals.
With five runs between an 11-inning, 6-3 loss to Penn and a 7-2 loss to Southern Miss, Auburn couldn’t find the explosive bats that got it to the postseason as the No. 13 national seed. While 26 runners reached base, 21 of them were stranded. The Tigers only had three run-scoring hits, as two of their runs versus Penn came via bases-loaded walks.
“We pride ourselves on getting timely hits the past month or so,” said senior third baseman Bryson Ware. “The past few games, for whatever reason, it hasn’t been falling our way.”
Leading the team with 63 RBI, 24 homers and a 1.169 OPS, Ware struggled to find any answers to get the team going at the plate. He struck out three times in the regional while going 1-for-7 with three walks.
Still, Ware reached base as much as any Auburn player in the pair of games. Cole Foster and Cooper McMurray also reached four times, while Foster and freshman Ike Irish were the only Tigers with hits in both contests.
Auburn was a big hit away from winning game one and posing a threat in game two.
Each of Auburn’s 13 hits were singles, including nine in game two versus Southern Miss. Penn also gave Auburn eight free bases, and Auburn walked four more times against the Golden Eagles. However, the Tigers struck out 22 times and only stole one base while stranding 21 runners.
Auburn began to turn the tides with three hits and two runs in the sixth inning of game two, but it was too little too late as the Golden Eagles stranded runners on the corners with a groundout.
“I really felt like we were one or two swings away,” said head coach Butch Thompson after the loss to Southern Miss. “I didn’t think our approach started getting better until the sixth inning today.”
Its opponents could not relate. While Auburn struggled to push across runs, Southern Miss homered four times, and Penn used two RBI doubles and a two-run bomb to advance in the winner’s bracket.
The Auburn pitching staff wasn’t exactly lights out, either. It allowed 13 runs on 20 hits in 20 innings. The Tigers conceded six or more runs in each of its final four games — all resulting in losses.
While the end of the season was when Auburn was playing its best ball, it didn’t carry over into the postseason as it has in prior years. The early exit broke its streak of three consecutive regional sweeps in 2018, 2019 and 2022.
“I just felt like [in] the last three regionals, we were in such a good spot and they played such good baseball,” Thompson said. “I did not get this team to the point of ready to compete for being able to be there in the last day of it.”
Despite a strong ending to the regular season, the early exit means Auburn will potentially part ways with six seniors, including five-year center fielder Kason Howell; catcher Nate LaRue; Ware, who broke Auburn’s single-season home run record with 24 in 2023; and outfielder Bobby Pierce. While it ended in disappointing fashion, the Tigers went out in front of sold-out Auburn crowd of 129,948, setting back-to-back attendance records.
“Being able to play in front of these fans is something I’ll hang my hat on for years to come,” Ware said. “I’m really happy that I was a part of that and could contribute. It’s a really cool memory that I’ll cherish for a really long time.”