It was a short trip to Hoover, Alabama, for the Auburn baseball team. Originally supposed to play on Wednesday night, the Tigers faced the Texas A&M Aggies on Thursday morning and ultimately lost 3-2 in their tournament debut.
The Aggies got up early in the third inning with a 3-run home run, and the Tigers were never able to catch up thanks to Texas A&M starting pitcher Justin Lamkin, who struck out five batters. Auburn's pair of runs came from a solo home run from Eric Snow in the fifth inning and a solo home run by Lucas Steele in the ninth inning.
"They hit the big haymaker early and we kind of hung in there," Head Coach Butch Thompson said, per Auburn Rivals. "That's a guy that had his stuff set pretty good. The strenght of our ballclub if our left-handed guys, but I didn't see any shape, form or fashion where we weren't competing in the box.
"I just thought we saw a really good pitcher. I was glad when we got him out of the game to still be in the game."
Auburn baseball is now in a holding pattern as the team awaits the announcement of the NCAA regionals, which will come on Monday morning at 11:00 Central Time. Host sites, but not the seeding, will be announced the night before on Sunday. Regionals will begin the next Friday. The Tigers are headed into the tournament with a 38-18 overall record and a 17-13 record in conference play.