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Auburn

Ike Irish hits walk-off single to send Auburn past Troy, wild shirtless celebration ensues

ns_headshot_2024-clearby:Nick Schultz•02/18/25•

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Auburn catcher Ike Irish
© Cyndi Chambers / USA TODAY NETWORK

As Auburn headed into the bottom of the ninth tied at 6-6 against Troy, Ike Irish emerged as the hero. Afterward, the Tigers celebrated accordingly.

Irish stepped up with the bases loaded in the final frame and knocked a walk-off single to left-center field. That gave Auburn the 7-6 victory over Troy to improve to 3-1 on the young season after winning the season-opening series against Holy Cross over the weekend.

As the Tigers began their celebration, Irish was front and center as his jersey came off. It made for quite the scene in the outfield at Plainsman Park.

Irish finished the day 2-for-3 with a walk and the game-winning RBI to help Auburn to the victory. Deric Fabian had a big performance, as well, launching a three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning as part of a 3-for-3 day.

Fabian’s home run made it an early 4-0 Auburn lead in the home half of the first, but Troy responded shortly thereafter. The Trojans had a five-run scoring outburst in the top of the second inning, including a two-run double as the big hit to jump back out in front, 5-4. Troy then added another run in the third inning to make it 6-4.

Auburn didn’t back down, though. The Tigers cut into the lead on a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning when Ike Irish scored on a fly ball into foul territory. They then tied things up on an RBI groundout from Bub Terrell, which scored Eric Snow in the bottom of the sixth.

The 6-6 score held until the bottom of the ninth when Irish came up to the plate. With the line drive to center, he sent Auburn fans home happy as the Tigers improved to 3-1 on the young season.

Carson Myers got the start on Tuesday, but was pulled after 1.2 innings and five earned runs allowed. That’s when Jackson Sanders came in to take things over, and he threw 2.1 innings before Cam Tilly’s three scoreless innings. Jett Johnston got the win after continuing to keep the Troy bats silent in the eighth and ninth.

Auburn will continue its season-opening homestand on Wednesday against North Alabama. Wright State will then make its way to The Plains for a weekend set starting Friday.