Six-run sixth inning catapults No. 17 Auburn over No. 1 Arkansas

AUBURN, Ala. – No. 17 Auburn used a six-run sixth inning to comeback from a four-run deficit and defeat No. 1 Arkansas 8-6 in the series finale Saturday afternoon at Plainsman Park.

The two-run victory comes after a pair of one-run losses to start the series, preceded by a one-run win against South Alabama Tuesday.

“This week needs to go a long way for us to grow,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “I just stop short of the result thing. Of course we want to win, but these guys have to figure out what they can take from this week and apply and keep giving us that good effort.

“The league will drag it out of you, but we were ready to play today, even when we got down,” Thompson added. “You knew you were going to have to play offense today. They at least got to the point where they hooked it up and had a good look in their eye.”

The game was played in front of a program-record 5,087 fans, surpassing the previous record from 2002 by more than 350 fans.

“This is a group of guys that have done everything we have asked them to do the right way,” Thompson said. “For us to come out being down 0-2 in a series at home and have more fans than we’ve ever had in the park’s history show up is pretty moving. For me personally it’s a big deal, and I know it means a lot to these players, but that’s Auburn. That’s the best version of us, and the fans were huge to provide some momentum in the ballpark today.”

Cooper McMurray hit a go-ahead, three-run homer with two outs in the sixth inning, marking his team-best ninth home run of the season and highlighting a 2-for-3, four-RBI game.

“It’s huge,” McMurray said of Saturday’s win. “I feel like all weekend we were stinging balls right at them but not getting the big hit when we need to, but it’s all about being able to scratch one on a Saturday or Sunday. I think it shows the fight in this lineup that we are never going to give up. Shout out to the pitching staff and the fans. I think it was the largest crowd in Plainsman Park history, which is huge. We need that all year for us.”

After allowing three of the first four batters he faced in the seventh inning to reach and Arkansas to cut Auburn’s lead to one, Parker Calson (2-0) got the potential tying run from third out at the plate on a comebacker and struck out the leadoff hitter to end the inning and maintain the lead. Carlson earned his second win in as many appearances this week.

Will Cannon entered the start the eighth and retired six of the seven batters he faced, including a pair of strikeouts in the ninth, to earn his first save of the season and sixth of his career.

“Trust is a big part,” Cannon said of being able to close a game. “I know the guys behind me trust me and everyone in the locker room. Them just having that faith in me, I just know I need to go out there and not do more, but just be me and let my stuff work.”

Arkansas (19-3, 5-1 SEC) had given up seven runs in the first five-plus games of Southeastern Conference play before Auburn (15-8, 1-5 SEC) exploded for six runs in the sixth inning to take a 7-5 lead. Trailing 5-1, Mason Maners got the inning started with a 413-foot solo homer to right field. Four straight Auburn hitters then reached on a single, double and back-to-back walks before a RBI fielder’s choice from Ike Irish made it a one-run game. The Razorbacks got a strikeout for the second out of the frame before McMurray sent a 0-1 pitch over the War Eagle Wall in left field to give Auburn a 7-5 lead.

Arkansas made it a one-run game on a RBI double in the seventh and had the go-ahead run in scoring position with one out, but the bullpen duo of Carlson and Cannon retired eight of the next nine hitters to end the game.

Making his second SEC start, Joseph Gonzalez allowed one hit and three baserunners in the first three innings, but Arkansas batted around in the fourth and scored four runs on a three-run homer and RBI double to jump out in the middle innings.

After starting the first five weekends of the season, Carson Myers came out of the bullpen and bridged the gap from Gonzalez to Carlson and Cannon with 1.2 innings of work.

The Tigers got on the board on McMurray’s RBI single in the fifth before the big sixth inning. Irish then capped off the scoring in the contest with a solo homer off the top of the videoboard in the eighth, marking his career-best seventh homer of the season.

McMurray and Irish were joined by Maners and Chris Stanfield with a pair of hits in the game, accounting for eight of Auburn’s 10 hits.

The Tigers start another four-game week vs. Jacksonville State (9-12) Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT at Plainsman Park.