Missouri falls to Auburn in first round of SEC Tournament

Just three days ago Auburn polished off a sweep of Missouri, all but ending Mizzou’s hopes of making a regional. On Tuesday, Auburn officially ended MU’s season with a 10-4 victory in the first round of the SEC tournament, which Missouri hadn’t played in since 2019.

After a day filled with strong pitching performances in Hoover, the bats took center stage in Missouri’s game. The Tigers were the first to strike, capitalizing on a pair of walks in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead. However, as these last six weeks have shown, the question is not if Auburn’s offense will respond, but rather when?

Auburn’s first counter punch came in the third inning, but it didn’t come in their usual powerful fashion. Instead Auburn plated three runs on a bases-loaded walk, a fielder’s choice and a sacrifice fly. The fireworks came later for the Tigers.

Trailing 3-1 with their season on the line, Missouri found a little fight in the tank in the fourth inning. MU took a page out of Auburn’s book and capitalized on a pair of errors, manufacturing three runs of their own to regain the lead 4-3.

But the top of the fourth inning was where the small ball ended. Auburn promptly tied the game at 4 before star SS Cole Foster untied the game with a mammoth three-run home run.

The bats for both teams went dormant for a few innings, and Missouri stayed within striking distance until the eighth inning when Auburn put the cherry on top of their victory. Bobby Pierce doubled in a run to extend the lead to 8-4, but Missouri seemed to gain a little momentum back when Isaiah Frost and Matt Garcia executed a perfect, but controversial, relay to throw out Pierce at the plate. Unfortunately, that momentum lasted all of three pitches before Bryson Ware teed off on his 22nd HR of the season to give Auburn a 10-4 lead.

In the ninth, Missouri had 2-3-4 due up, but it didn’t matter as they went down in order to end Mizzou’s season. The win was Auburn’s 9th straight – the last four of which have been over Missouri.