Takeaways from Auburn's SEC Tournament loss to Alabama, 7-4
The Auburn Tigers dropped the 2nd game of the double-elimination second round of the SEC Tournament, 7-4 to Alabama, and are now eliminated from the tournament.
Here's what you need to know from the contest:
Garrett McMillan continues to have Auburn's number
Auburn did not have an answer for the senior righthander. Just like in their series in April, McMillan kept Auburn's bats quiet and didn't allow them to link up for a big inning. He pitched five scoreless innings in April, allowing only one hit and no walks.
He wasn't quite as sharp today - six innings with three runs, coming on five hits and three walks, but it was effective enough. He struck out eight Tigers, escaping several jams where Auburn had runners on and couldn't bring them in.
Auburn's sometimes too reliant on the longball
Auburn got only one homerun in this one, a sixth-inning leadoff bomb by Bryson Ware to give him Auburn's single season home run record (23, passing Hunter Morris in 2010 - Morris, a volunteer assistant for Alabama, was in the house for this one and met with Ware pregame).
But outside of that, Auburn didn't do much with their six other hits. Everything off of McMillan, excluding Ware's homer and Ike Irish doubling right after it, was a single. Auburn got their runners moved over via walks, sacrifices, or steals, but either couldn't get the big hits to bring them in or couldn't string together multiple hits to hang a crooked number on the scoreboard, ultimately leaving eleven runners on base in the contest.
The only Tiger to record multiple hits was Brody Wortham, who started at second base and batted 8th in the today. He was responsible for Auburn's first run, driving in Cooper McMurray with a base hit to right in the 2nd inning.
Maybe not starting Nate LaRue was a bad idea
Auburn fans have been frustrated by catcher Nate LaRue's struggles on offense this year, but we saw the other side of the coin today. With backup Carter Wright replacing him behind the dish, as some teams do for a day game after a night game, Alabama thrived on the basepaths.
One specific sequence stood out: After Konner Copeland was replaced by Tanner Bauman in the 4th inning, Alabama leadoff hitter Jim Jarvis got on base, promptly stole second, and was driven in by a Tommy Seidl single. Then William Hamiter, running for Seidl, promptly stole second himself and was driven in by a Andrew Pinckney single.
LaRue entered the game for the bottom of the 5th, and Alabama didn't attempt another steal for the rest of the contest. Butch Thompson has praised LaRue's defense all season, and the Tigers may have overthought this one here (or LaRue may have genuinely needed a break, we don't know.)
Will Auburn still get to host a Regional?
They should, yes. Entering today, D1Baseball.com had Auburn seizing the SEC's 5th hosting spot, as the #10 Regional, paired with Vanderbilt (7), while Alabama (11) is right behind them and paired with Stanford (6). Today's events don't change Auburn's hosting odds - as the SEC is projected to get either seven or a record eight hosting spots this year, Auburn's safely within the margin of error. There's a possibility that Alabama continues on in the SEC Tournament and makes it to the weekend, which would probably leap them over Auburn in the seeding, but Auburn's safe in that fifth to sixth hosting slot range.
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