![Auburn baseball shortstop Ryan Bliss takes a throw and tags out Alabama base runner Peyton Wilson (8) as he attempts to steal second in Sewell-Thomas Stadium Thursday, April 15, 2021. [Staff Photo/Gary Cosby Jr.]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/c8781d9ff667120c58f191c6fadd7b4307b2f0458f621fae5ecb39acdbdb7e9e.jpg "Auburn baseball shortstop Ryan Bliss takes a throw and tags out Alabama base runner Peyton Wilson (8) as he attempts to steal second in Sewell-Thomas Stadium Thursday, April 15, 2021. [Staff Photo/Gary Cosby Jr.]")
In the final series of the season at Plainsman Park, Auburn baseball picked up a critical 2-1 game victory in a must-win trio of games against SEC West rival Texas A&M to save their SEC Tournament hopes..
Butch Thompson’s Tigers were the #13 seed heading into the weekend but now hold the #12 along with TAMU heading into a critical final week of the SEC schedule.
The Aggies host LSU for their final three games, while Auburn visits Columbia, Missouri to take on the SEC East Tigers of Mizzou.
Sunday’s 8-5 series-clinching win all but saved the Auburn baseball season, giving meaning to this final week of the season. Auburn has the opportunity to punch their ticket to Hoover with a season-capping series against the SEC’s lowliest squad.
The Tigers led 3-0 before Texas A&M even came up to bat due to sloppy fielding and alert baserunning in the top of the 1st inning. By the bottom of the 2nd, Auburn essentially already had it wrapped up with a 6-1 score. The Aggies only came up with five runs all afternoon.
While Rankin Woley did have the team’s only two errors in the field, he also had the game’s top highlight, stopping a liner with his glove and recording the out at 3rd while launching the ball to first in one fluid motion to record a crucial double play that in the third inning.
Sunday’s win followed a heartbreaking 11-9 Saturday night loss that saw the team rope six home runs. Steven Williams and Tyler Miller had two each, while Ryan Bliss and Woley each produced a solo shot themselves.
Luckily, the Tigers took care of business during Friday’s 5-4 win with a go-ahead run in the eighth inning coming via way of a bases loaded walk by Ryan Dyal.
With North Alabama on the schedule to close out the 2021 season at Plainsman Park and a matchup with Mizzou to conclude the SEC calendar, Auburn baseball has its Hoover fate in its own hands.